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Abstract
Israel has since 2005 become an important destination for asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa. Even though it was an early signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the development of an Israeli asylum regime has only gathered pace since then. That regime is underpinned by a discourse of securitization that regards most asylum seekers as hostile ‘infiltrators’. This paper is based on fieldwork among the Eritrean refugee community in Israel and in using two concrete case studies analyzes the struggles of Eritrean refugees to realize rights and lay claim to a viable future. Their struggles provide insights into the wider debate on the lack of concrete footing of universal rights in actual political space.
Notes
1. The major international instruments concerning refugees are the United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees, done 28 July 1951 (hereafter 1951 Convention), the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, adopted 14 December 1950, and the United Nations Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, done 31 January 1967. The then Organization of African Unity (now African Union) adopted an additional Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (hereafter OAU Convention) on 10 September 1969 (entered into force 20 June 1974); it challenges the notion that persecution is the essential criterion of refugeehood but uses the broader understanding of the minimally legitimate state and thus regards persecution as only one manifestation of a lack of state protection of basic rights of its citizens.
2. In the 1951 Convention’s definition fear of persecution that can form the basis for a valid asylum claim must not only be well-founded but based on a ‘protected ground’, the latter including race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in particular social groups – all markers of identities and in fact wide enough to include most forms of potential persecution (see also Lister, Citation2013).
3. A note on terminology is in order here: Legally speaking, Eritreans (and those of other nationalities) arrive in Israel as asylum seekers and becoming a legally recognized refugee would be the outcome of a successful asylum application. In this paper, however, the focus is on refugeehood as a condition of everyday life, not on legal categories and definitions, and thus the term refugee is being used when referring to Eritreans in Tel Aviv.
4. The security fence covers the length of the 240 km long border between Israel and Egypt and once completed had an immediate effect on the number of refugees entering the country: While in the first half of 2012 reportedly 9570 citizens of various African countries entered Israel illegally, this number had been reduced to 34 in the first six months of 2013 and has since then stood at almost zero (Arutz Sheva, 2 July 2013, https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169521#.UeXqBUB15DQ, accessed 25 March 2014, copy on file).
5. Those dynamics are made possible by the fact that refugee protection adopts a universal human rights paradigm but the duties arising from it are in the jurisdiction of national governments (for a broader discussion see Fitzpatrick, Citation2000).
6. By mid 2011, 496 refugees from Darfur had received temporary resident permits (A5 visas), while 2000 Eritreans who had entered before 2009 had received B1 visas which permit holders to legally work in Israel (Paley, Citation2011). Refugees from Darfur more generally are regarded as most deserving as the discourse around Darfur centers on the language of genocide, a concept that has a lot of resonance among Israeli politicians and the general public alike. For a detailed overview concerning the development of asylum procedures in Israel see Hotline for Migrant Workers (Citation2012).
7. This has happened with respect to refugees from South Sudan who were entitled to Conditional Release Visas in the past that the Israeli Government revoked in the aftermath of the declaration of independence of the Republic of South Sudan in July 2011. In early 2012 the Israeli Government announced it would detain and deport any South-Sudanese who did not leave voluntarily by 1 April 2012 because with independent statehood South Sudan was now considered a safe country to return to. This stipulation has been challenged by the Refugee Rights Clinic with a limited degree of success. Following a court ruling from 7 June 2012 temporary group protection of South Sudanese nationals came to an immediate end and on 17 June 2012 the first plane with 120 South Sudanese Nationals left Tel Aviv airport for Juba (Anat Ben-Dor, email communication 10 February 2012; African Refugee Development Centre [ARDC] and Hotline for Migrant Workers Citation2013; Fahamu Refugee Aid Legal Newsletter, 1 July 2012, https://www.refugeelegalaidinformation.org/fahamu-refugee-legal-aid-newsletter, accessed 24 March 2014, copy on file).
8. Holot is characterized as an ‘open’ facility because those brought there can in theory leave, but they need to check in three times a day and stay there at night. Holot’s remote location in the Negev desert with the nearest town, Beer Sheva, about an hour away by bus makes this in fact a prison facility where occupants reportedly suffer from severe boredom. By February 2014, more than 400 refugees had already been arrested and transferred to Holot from their former places of residence, a policy that caused sustained big demonstrations by African refugees, civil society organizations, and employers of refugees combined for the first time but thus far with little effect in relation to a change in Israeli policy. In contrast, by March 2014 around 4000 detention orders had been issued to refugees all over Israel requiring them to report to Holot (Arad, Citation2014; Berman, Citation2014; Linthicum, Citation2014; Lior, Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Margalit, Citation2014; Tsurkov, Citation2013).
9. In the course of 2012 RSD interviews with some asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan finally began. By January 2014, reportedly 250 out of 1800 requests from both those nationalities had been examined. 150 requests were rejected, 2 Eritreans were granted refugee status and the rest remained undecided (Lior, Citation2014d).
10. On temporary protection dynamics and inherent obligations see Fitzpatrick (Citation2000).
12. A nationwide national service campaign was introduced in Eritrea in 1995, requiring all women and men between 18 and 40 years of age to undergo six months military training followed by twelve months civilian reconstruction activities as a citizenship obligation. At the time of its introduction the campaign was widely accepted. Under the so-called Warsay-Yekealo Development Campaign inaugurated in 2002 national service does not end after the stipulated 18 months but conscripts are made to stay in service indefinitely. They are mostly given civilian labour tasks often on army-owned construction or agricultural projects but are still under military command. The indefinite duration and treatment patterns have been described as a contemporary example of forced labour that contravenes international law (see Kibreab, Citation2009).
13. It is difficult to obtain strong evidence about what happens to Eritreans who are returned, but various incidences of imprisonment and torture have been reported (see for example Human Rights Watch, Citation2009). In addition, those who left Eritrea illegally and need consular services abroad are forced not only to pay a lump-sum of backdated two-percent diaspora tax payments, but at the same time need to sign a ‘confession’ that they have betrayed the country with their leaving and would accept any government punishment metered out to them should they ever return.
14. Like for all refugees who run businesses his business is officially illegal, as even with all required payments no refugee has thus far secured an official business license. In practice, however, most business owners are left alone and are not being bothered by the authorities, even though I am aware of some cases when fines had to be paid and closure was threatened. In spring 2012, during violent protests against ‘infiltrators’ in south Tel Aviv, police raided a number of refugee-owned restaurants and shops and destroyed food and stocks.
15. ‘Michael’ is male, 26 years old and from Dekemhare. The interview was conducted 31 March 2011 in Tel Aviv.
16. ‘Berhane’ is male, 33 years old and from Mendefera. The interview was conducted 1 April 2014 in Tel Aviv. ‘Asmeron’ is male, 26 years old and from Tsorona. The interview was conducted 6 April 2011 in Tel Aviv.
17. Among the people I encountered in the course of this study, one woman was raped in Sinai and had an abortion in Israel (‘Luul’, interviewed 17 April 2011 in Tel Aviv). One man whom I talked to during an informal conversation in Levinsky Park on 7 April 2011, told me about how he had been tortured and showed me torture wounds on his body. He had come to Israel six months before I met him and had visible scars on his arms and legs where he was chained. He had been held for 10 months by Bedouin smugglers and was only released after relatives abroad managed to send a payment of US$ 11,000. Shahar Shoham from Physicians for Human Rights confirmed that ransom demands had shot up and that people held as hostages now often needed to pay as much as US$ 15,000.
18. ‘Yodit’ is female, 25 years old and from Asmara. The interview was conducted 10 April 2011 in Tel Aviv.
19. ‘Robel’ is male, 38 years old and from Asmara. The interview was conducted 14 April 2011 in Tel Aviv.
20. ‘Mekonnen’ is male, 30 years old and from Senafe. The interview was conducted 30 March 2011 in Tel Aviv.
21. The Israeli Government has in the past been reluctant to consider reallocation applications to third countries and if so only on exceptional humanitarian grounds. I am personally aware of one family where one partner is Ethiopian and one Eritrean who were persecuted on religious grounds in Eritrea who have been granted asylum in the United States and were allowed to leave after a long drawn out process. The Israeli side feared this would act as a magnet for a bigger refugee influx, an argument that with the new border fence should have become obsolete.
22. ‘Samuel’ is male, 27 years old and from Senafe. This conversation took place on 15 September 2013 in Tel Aviv, a time when rumours about a deal between Israel and Uganda were already rife.