عن الخط الساخن لمساعدة اللاجئين والمهاجرين في إسرائيل
It has now been ten years since the first refugees from Darfur arrived on the Israel-Egypt border in search of asylum in Israel. As more people arrived in desperation they started to be called infiltrators and we were told that they were work migrants, not people running from persecution. The problem with this sweeping statement is that it is not based on fact – the majority of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers worldwide are granted refugee status.
Israel has not granted even one Sudanese person asylum, and those from Darfur have simply not received any answers on their requests, despite them pending for years. A week ago, the state finally acknowledged in their correspondence with the Hotline that they do not have a policy on Darfur. This isn't news to us, but it is the first time we are hearing it from the source.
Over a year ago, we submitted a case on behalf of our client, Mutasim Ali, from Darfur, Sudan. We were appealing the fact that the government was trying to detain someone in Holot without having answered his asylum claim – which was submitted in 2012. Mutasim has now spent more than a year in detention whilst his case has gone from court to court receiving decisions that hide behind different bureaucratic walls. In March the district court in Beersheva ordered the state "to make every effort" to answer his asylum request by the end of May. When that date came and went the state wrote to us to say:
“In recent months, there have been a number of discussions with senior officials at the Ministry [of Interior] in an effort to come to a settled position with regard to the Sudanese population from the Darfur region. However, the process of forming the new government and the appointment of a new Interior Minister have, due to the nature of things, led to a delay of a decision.”
The state is finally up against a wall and they know they must make a decision. They have seen that the more bureaucratic hurdles they throw at us, the higher we will jump over them. So what will Israel decide? Are survivors of the worst genocide in recent history entitled to protection here? We're ready for an answer.
Reut Michaeli,
Executive Director
It has now been ten years since the first refugees from Darfur arrived on the Israel-Egypt border in search of asylum in Israel. As more people arrived in desperation they started to be called infiltrators and we were told that they were work migrants, not people running from persecution. The problem with this sweeping statement is that it is not based on fact – the majority of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers worldwide are granted refugee status.
Israel has not granted even one Sudanese person asylum, and those from Darfur have simply not received any answers on their requests, despite them pending for years. A week ago, the state finally acknowledged in their correspondence with the Hotline that they do not have a policy on Darfur. This isn't news to us, but it is the first time we are hearing it from the source.
Over a year ago, we submitted a case on behalf of our client, Mutasim Ali, from Darfur, Sudan. We were appealing the fact that the government was trying to detain someone in Holot without having answered his asylum claim – which was submitted in 2012. Mutasim has now spent more than a year in detention whilst his case has gone from court to court receiving decisions that hide behind different bureaucratic walls. In March the district court in Beersheva ordered the state "to make every effort" to answer his asylum request by the end of May. When that date came and went the state wrote to us to say:
“In recent months, there have been a number of discussions with senior officials at the Ministry [of Interior] in an effort to come to a settled position with regard to the Sudanese population from the Darfur region. However, the process of forming the new government and the appointment of a new Interior Minister have, due to the nature of things, led to a delay of a decision.”
The state is finally up against a wall and they know they must make a decision. They have seen that the more bureaucratic hurdles they throw at us, the higher we will jump over them. So what will Israel decide? Are survivors of the worst genocide in recent history entitled to protection here? We're ready for an answer.
Reut Michaeli,
Executive Director