About Going Back to Eritrea… Refugees in Tel Aviv

Yesterday was Eritrean Independence Day. 

Today demonstrations are being held at the embassies of Eritrea all over the world.  Here too, in Israel, Eritrean refugees are demonstrating outside of the embassy on Bialik Street in Ramat Gan.

Eritrea is listed on UN and other NGO reports as an absolute dictatorship without individual freedoms.  On the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders last January, Eritrea was ranked 179 – last, behind even North Korea.  International reports tell of mandatory and indefinite recruitment into the armed forces, persecution of religious groups, and torture.  This is why Eritreans are fleeing in great numbers, despite risk of death, and this is why the UN declared that Eritreans should not be deported to their country.  Contrary to the impression created in Israel, citizens of Eritrea come not only to Israel, but also to poor countries throughout the African continent.

What will happen if we nevertheless deport them?  In past years, Libya and Malta have deported Eritreans back to their country. It was subsequently discovered that citizens so returned were imprisoned and tortured.  This will also happen to Eritreans returned from Israel.  The Eritreans are still here because the government of Israel adheres to the guidelines of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. If the government decides to expel them, Israel will be known in the world as a country that sends people to places where they are endangered.

Imprisoning asylum seekers will not change the situation much.  The construction of a detention center for refugees is being swiftly advanced.  This massive infrastructure project has depleted the country’s coffers of many millions of shekels, but it can only house 6,000 people.

Yesterday we were informed of the government’s intention to deport citizens of the new country of South Sudan currently living in Israel.  This population numbers only approximately 800.  The vast majority of asylum seekers are in fact citizens of Eritrea.  The Minster of the Interior says these people are not refugees, and that we should lock them up and deport them. So why isn’t that happening?

Our Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior are not taking responsibility.  They prefer inciting and issuing empty promises they have no intention of keeping to doing the right thing: show leadership by leveling with the Israel public, admitting that there are no quick fixes and that the asylum seekers will not disappear tomorrow, and allocating the funds and resources necessary in order to give residents of the affected neighborhoods the security, hygiene, and welfare they deserve.  They can also listen to the Police Commissioner who says what should be obvious: stop pushing the asylum seekers to desperation and crime, and let them work.