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It is too early to tell if Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel can be deported to their homeland, even though Eritrea has recently made peace with Ethiopia and would have abolished its project Unlimited military, said Wednesday a government lawyer to lawyers.
Recent developments indicate that changes may occur in Eritrea, but it is still early, said the National Security Council's legal adviser to the Knesset's Interior and Environment Committee.
The test will be whether the circumstances allow asylum seekers to return safely to Eritrea under international law, he added. "I think it's still premature, because these are things that happen," he said.
The representative of the Africa Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Knesset that after years of tension and war, the developments between Ethiopia and Eritrea are dramatic and historical, but this process is still ongoing.
"Things take time," he said. "We are following the developments day by day, but it is too early to draw conclusions – we can not know how long it will take – but it may take time."
The Home Committee was reviewing the policy of not deporting asylum seekers to Eritrea. But committee chairman MK Yoav Kish (Likud) said at the beginning of the discussion: "It is impossible to ignore the policy change in Eritrea." He described the peace agreement signed by the government. 39, Eritrea and Ethiopia "dramatic and surprising".
On Tuesday, Haaretz reported that Israel had terminated negotiations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on its plan for Western countries to take about half of African asylum seekers in Israel , with Israel absorbing the rest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan in April, but immediately flip-flopped after being strongly criticized in his Likud party.
Interior Minister Arye Dery informed MP Mossi Raz (Meretz) earlier this month that Israel is currently exploring different options and has held preliminary discussions with "concerned parties", but that the policy of not expel asylum seekers Obligate.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Tuesday that if Eritrea abolished its indefinite military service – political since the beginning of the war with Ethiopia – Israel would seek to send the plaintiffs without delay Eritrean asylum at home. It would be good for the people of southern Tel Aviv, where many African refugees live, she said. Addressing Habayit Hayehudi party members, she said the government was closely monitoring developments between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
During the 20-year battle between the two African states, an estimated 80,000 people were killed. "There is no doubt that the peace agreement is speeding up our examination of the issue," said an official of the Interior Ministry in Haaretz. "If there is peace, the main reason why Eritreans claim asylum – desertion and evasion – will lose its relevance. We are waiting to see how other countries will react, "said the source.
Several Israeli organizations badisting asylum seekers have recently warned that the Ethiopian-Eritrean agreement "will not necessarily make the Eritrean regime cease to enslave its citizens." The High Commissioner of the United Nations United for Refugees explicitly stated that given the ongoing human rights violations in Eritrea, the vast majority of its citizens currently in Israel can not return safely to their country. " they said.
The US State Department also stated that the situation in Eritrea had not improved and that security forces continued to violate human rights, including arbitrary executions, kidnapping and torture.
There are currently 26,081 Eritrean refugees in Israel, and only 10 of them have been granted asylum seeker status, according to the state controller. Thousands of applications were rejected.
According to the Israeli immigration authorities, Israel is also home to 7,500 Sudanese refugees (a figure that does not include children). This figure includes Darfurians, of whom 2,500 have applied for asylum. So far, five requests have been rejected, one has been approved and the others are still waiting for an answer.
Darfurians were fleeing genocide: hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions uprooted during the war in Darfur, civilians being vulnerable to attacks by Sudanese security forces. In Israel, the High Court of Justice has criticized the state for its lethargic treatment of the Darfur issue.
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