Two Sudanese refugees caught after a night crossing over into Israel from the Egyptian border.
Dear friends,
We are writing on behalf of the
"Refugees' Rights Forum", which consists of eight Israeli human
rights NGOs, to urge your organization to take urgent action against the
summary deportation of asylum seekers who arrive to Israel's southern border.
In August 2007 Israel deported to Egypt 48 men, women and children shortly
after their arrival to Israel. At the time, Israel claimed that the Egyptian
President Husni Mubarak promised that Egypt would ensure the safety and well
being of any person returned from Israel. To this date the fate of the 48
deportees remain unknown, they were all held in an incommunicado detention in
Egypt and UNHCR's repeated requests to be granted access to them were denied.
According to various publications, some of them were later deported by Egypt to
Sudan. Such deportation implicated Israel in the violation of the basic
principle of Non-Refoulement, enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, which
prohibit a country to send a person in any manner whatsoever to a place in
which he would risk persecution.
Following these events a petition was
served to the Israeli High Court to block any deportation of asylum seekers
without due process (HCT 7302/07). In the hearings, the State declared to the
Court that it would not perform any further deportations, as long as Egypt does
not provide the necessary assurances to the safety of the deportees. However,
last week these declarations were violated with the summary return of 91 people
soon after the crossed the border. According to an affidavit filed to the Court
by Brigadier General Yoel Strick, the commander of the IDF division in charge
of the border, the army regulations were violated and people were returned
without even questioning them regarding potential risks they might face if
returned. The State Attorneys defined the four reported incidents of summary
deportations as a "local dysfunction" and declared that the
deportations will continue, but that the forces were instructed to question
every person prior to his/her's deportation.
Throughout this incident the Israeli
authorities ignored their prior commitment not to return any person to Egypt
before receiving adequate assurances that Egypt would not return (refoul) the
person to danger and would allow access to fair asylum procedures. This is
particularly troubling since according to various authoritative reports, during
the last few months Egypt has deported at least 1,200 Ertirean asylum seekers
despite the fear that this might lead to a prolonged detention, ill treatment
and torture . According to Amnesty International, at least 740 of the deportees
are still held in an arbitrary detention in Eritrea, there is considerable
concern that they might be exposed to torture and other ill-treatment. If Israel deports a person to Egypt who later
deports this person to a place where he would suffer torture or persecution,
Israel will be held responsible for this violation of basic human rights. This
was clarified in the past by the former Chief Justice of the Israeli High
Court, Judge Barak:
"Israel may not pride itself in its
clean hands if it assures that the State to which a person is deported, will
not harm him. Israel is obligated to further ensure that this country would not
deport the deportee to a third country which may harm him. Therefore, the
deportation to a third country must be done with the assurance that this
country, on her part, would not deport the person to a country in which his
life or liberty would be in danger" (the 1995 El-Tai decision, HCT
5190/94).
Israel has been one of the first
signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention and Israelis often cite their own
history as a nation as a source of a unique understanding and commitment to the
plight of refugees and asylum seekers. Sadly, the current Israeli policies
violate this historical lesson as well as the international law and legal
obligations Israel made when it joined the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1984
Convention against torture.
We call
on you and / or your organization to express concern over the current
practice of summary deportations of potential refugees and asylum seekers who
arrive to Israel without proper hearing or procedures and without adequate
assurance for their safety. For further details please see a call for action
published by Amnesty International on September 3rd. <http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1221054919078.doc>
Please send your letters to:
Ehud Barak - Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defence, 37 Kaplan Street
Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax:
+972 3 691 7915 or +972 3 696 2757;
Email:
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Meni Mazuz - Attorney General
Ministry of Justice, 29 Salah-a-din
Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972-2-6467001
Zipi Livni - Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 Yizhak
Rabin Blvd.
Jerusalem 91035, Israel
Fax: +972-2-5303896
and a copy for the "Refugees' Rights
Forum" for us to follow at:
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For more information please see:
http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/NonRefoulementEng.pdf
<http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/NonRefoulementEng.pdf>
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE12/015/2008/en
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE12/015/2008/en>
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