The Community Story

Background

As of June 2023, there were 23,587 refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. most of them from Eritrea and Sudan, with a unique Christian Ethiopian community also present in Jerusalem. These individuals fled brutal dictatorships, wars, genocide, and other atrocities that forced them to leave their homes and countries. Thousands are survivors of torture camps in Sinai, bearing both physical and psychological scars from their captivity and torture.

 

Refugee Definition – the 1951 International Refugee Convention 

Israel and international Jewish organizations were actively involved in drafting the 1951 Refugee convention, which is directly related to the plight of European Jews during World War II. Although Israel is a signature country to the Convention and its associated protocols, until today Israel failed to legislate its ‘refugee law’ to determine refugees rights and obligations.

 

The convention defines who is a refugee and outlines the rights of those seeking asylum, as well as the responsibilities of the host country.  

 

A refugee is defined as:  

"A person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."

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The Refugee Convention defines the rights of refugees as follows:  

- The right to work  

- The right to housing  

- The right to education  

- Freedom of movement  

- The right to identification and travel documents  

 

The Convention defines protections for refugees:  

- Non-Refoulement - protection from deportation to a place of danger  

- Protection from discrimination  

- Protection from punishment for unauthorized entry  

 

Asylum seekers: 

A person who has fled their country and seeks protection in another country. It's a temporary status for individuals who applied for asylum while the hosting country reviews their application.

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The Situation in Israel

Although the African refugees have submitted requests for asylum, Israel treats them as unwanted guests. The Israeli government routinely refers to refugees and asylum seekers as "infiltrators" and stirs negative public opinion against them.

 

The rate of refugee recognition in Israel is one of the lowest in the world - less than 1% of applications were recognized until today. Recognition rates for Eritreans and Sudanese, who make up a majority portion of asylum seekers in Israel, are internationally around 60% for Sudanese and 90% for Eritreans. However, in Israel, no Sudanese citizen has been recognized as a refugee, and only a few Eritreans have been recognized out of 22,915 who applied for asylum.

 

Israel adheres to the principle of non-refoulement, knowing that many asylum seekers would be in danger if they were to return to their countries of origin. Therefore, the policy towards asylum seekers is one of temporary non-deportation, officially referred to as "group protection." Most asylum seekers in Israel hold a temporary permit (2(a)(5), which requires renewal every 3-6 months.

 

The Temporary permit grants no rights, and refugees face numerous challenges such as the lack of support networks, exploitation in the workplace, inadequate housing options, denial of adequate healthcare, and, of course, uncertainty about the future. Language barriers also create an additional obstacle in dealing with the authorities.

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Children  

In Israel, a child’s status is determined by the status of their parents. Therefore, children of refugees — whether they arrived in Israel as young children or were born here — are subject to their parents' legal status.

These children grow up as Israelis and are educated in the Israeli schools system from the age of 3. Upon turning 18, the state considers them "infiltrators" according to the law, and they lose the few rights they had as kids — education, health insurance through a health fund, and social services in cases of risk.  

Without basic rights and the ability to plan for their future, these young people are left feeling disconnected—belonging neither here nor anywhere else.

 

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