In early 2003, a new rebellion against the central government began in the western region of Darfur. In response to accusations of neglect from residents of Darfur, the government began arming and providing technical support to militia groups entitled the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed have been wiping out communities of Muslim African tribal farmers in a genocidal campaign. To date, about 400,000 people have been killed and nearly 2 million displaced in clashes between rebel groups and the government. Here also, refugees are fleeing for their lives, primarily to Chad ¹ (228,836 refugees) and Uganda (212,857) with some 13,446 Sudanese seeking safety in Egypt.

In Egypt, the situation of Sudanese refugees, both from the South and Darfur, is dire. They lack basic rights, are on the verge of starvation, and suffer from frequent harassment by the authorities. During a protest in December 2005, 27 were killed by the Egyptian police, while many others were injured. Six hundred and fifty refugees were detained while Egypt announced it planned to deport them back to Sudan. Only as a result of international pressure, was this deportation plan withdrawn.

As a result of Egypt’s failure to grant Sudanese proper protection, many have decided to attempt the dangerous trek to Israel. Those lucky enough to collect the funds required by smugglers, then risk being shot and killed by the Egyptian police while crossing the border. Once in Israel, they surrender themselves to passing army patrols who arrest them as illegal aliens.

Currently, about 2,500 Sudanese asylum seekers are in Israel. About 750 are survivors of genocide from the Darfur region while virtually all of the rest are Christians from South Sudan. Most of the refugees are young men however about 150 families (including approximately 400 children) and an estimated 100 unaccompanied minors (including 30 under the age of 16) are also located here.

Israel Denies Sudanese Asylum

Although the government would like to deport Sudanese asylum seekers to Egypt, for the most part, they have refrained from doing this. This decision was based on vehement objections by human rights organizations which fear, based on historical precedent, that the asylum seekers will subsequently be deported from Egypt to Sudan and murdered.

However, the government also refuses to allow them to access the established asylum procedure. It bases its refusal on the fact that they are allegedly from an "enemy country" and therefore are presumed to be "dangerous to State security." The status of being from an "enemy nation" is inclusive; the State does not check individual cases to verify that they are actually dangerous in any way.

The treatment of Sudanese in Israel contrasts with the way Israel handles asylum applications from other nationalities. Recognized refugees in Israel are released from prison and granted work and stay permits as well as social benefits. Asylum seekers whose cases are in the process of review and whose requests are not summarily denied, are similarly released and given temporary work permits.

Israel's treatment of Sudanese asylum-seekers violates several bodies of international law, which Israel has signed and ratified. Human rights and refugee law (mainly grounded in the 1951 refugee convention) prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin in asylum policies and forbids states from singling out particular nationalities for disadvantage as related to immigration. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 requires that states exempt refugees from the measures they might otherwise take against enemy nationals. Ironically, this last provision of international humanitarian law was promoted by the young State of Israel, remembering that the UK had sheltered German Jews during World War II even though they were citizens of an enemy state.

Lack of Viable and Consistent Policy Leaves Refugees in Short and Long-Term Limbo

By late 2005, 56 Sudanese refugees had entered Israel, at the rate of a few a week, and all were detained. However, their numbers increased significantly in early 2006, following the deadly protest in Cairo. Accordingly, at the close of 2006, 270 Sudanese resided in Israel.

The first arrivals were handled by the Ministry of Interior and the Immigration Authority (IA). They were detained in IA prisons under the Law of Entry to Israel as are all undocumented migrants. Because they were not being deported, the UNHCR in Israel, the Refugee Rights Clinic and the Hotline for Migrant Workers were able to release some of them to various kibbutzim in Israel. This was done on a case by case basis through an agreement reached with the Ministry of the Interior. Later, when the Ministry of Interior began to refuse their release, we successfully petitioned the Tribunal for the Review of Custody of Undocumented Migrants for their release. Some 30 asylum seekers were released in this manner.

The Law to Prevent Infiltration

However, in early 2006, with a significant increase in new arrivals, the State even began to deny Sudanese refugees the rights that undocumented migrants are entitled to. Rather than detaining these refugees under the Law of Entry to Israel, they were held under an emergency law enacted in 1954, entitled the Law to Prevent Infiltration. A draconian law, it allows for unlimited detention, without judicial review, of a person who is either a national of one of the countries enumerated in the law (Sudan is not included) or who have passed through one of those countries. Egypt, despite being officially at peace with Israel, is listed in this outdated law. Because the refugees entered Israel via Egypt, technically, they can be detained as enemy infiltrators.

In response, the Hotline for Migrant Workers and the Refugee Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University filed High Court petitions against the use of the Infiltration Law in four cases. A hearing on these cases was held on May 8, 2006 and the State was ordered to provide administrative review to detained Sudanese within 30 days. To enable this, a mechanism of administrative review was enacted by the Minister of Defense and an official was assigned to conduct this task. While detainees held in Israel's central region began enjoying such review in August 2006, regular review for most of the detainees, namely those located in the far south of the country, only began in December following a request for an interim injunction submitted by the organizations.

Judicial review enabled our volunteers, in collaboration with the Refugee Rights Clinic, to release many refugees who had been detained - some for over a year. They were released to alternative detention in agricultural settlements. Despite being out of prison, they were not granted work permits and technically all were still under deportation order. This arrangement limited their freedom of movement and the ability to transfer employers. Many employers exploited their weak status and lack of alternatives by offering substandard pay and living conditions.

Concerned about this exploitation, the Hotline for Migrant Workers approached the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor requesting that employers be permitted to hire released Sudanese refugees without risking fines. In February, the Ministry approved our request and began issuing refugees letters to this effect. In March 2007, the Hotline for Migrant Workers convinced the official charged with reviewing their cases to release refugees to work at hotels in Eilat. The conditions offered by these employers were substantially better.

New Refugees Arrive

With the onset of better living and working conditions, in late April 2007, the pace of refugees arriving in Israel began to increase significantly. Included among them were women and children of refugees already in Israel, and other families. At this point, close to 500 Sudanese had arrived in Israel and the prison authorities no longer had space for them in detention facilities. The army refused to detain the new arrivals, instead releasing them directly to the streets of Beer Sheva.

Voluntary groups, prominent among them a new organization entitled Assaf, attempted to fill in where the government left off. Dedicated citizens worked day and night to find short term emergency solutions for the stranded refugees. Many were subsequently placed with employers in Eilat. Because they were never detained, no restrictions were placed on their movement, rather they were granted temporary protection papers.

The influx continued at a rapid pace. Between April and August 2007, approximately 1,000 refugees entered the country, with the peak period characterized by up to 50 newcomers a day. They were joined by refugees from other African countries- primarily Eritrea and the Ivory Coast. By the end of August, about 2,000 Sudanese were in Israel.

Hot Return Procedure

In July 2007, with the onset of tremendous numbers of refugees entering the country, the government reversed its policy of not deporting people to Egypt. They instituted what is termed 'hot return' meaning that in cases where the army identifies people soon after arrival, they were instructed to hand them over to the Egyptian authorities. This procedure denies them access to the Israeli asylum system thus preventing a process of Refugee Status Determination from taking place. This is in violation if international refugee law, and poses serious risks to those returned.

Following announcement of this new policy, on August 10^th, 48 asylum seekers, including 18 children, were deported to Egypt. Despite the government's claim that Egypt had guaranteed their safety, when the UNHCR tried to track them down, such requests were denied by the Egyptian authorities. Based on testimony from a journalist, we believe that five are imprisoned in Khartoum awaiting sentencing for having entered Israel.

Consequently, on August 28, 2007, together with the Refugee Rights Clinic, we submitted a High Court petition against this policy. It was first heard on September 24. At this hearing, they court ordered the State to present a procedure which would include a mechanism to distinguish between asylum seekers and others, prior to their deportation to Egypt. In early December 2007, the State presented such a procedure to the court, which we believe to be flawed as it does not allow access to the Israeli asylum system. This process of negotiation has continued into 2008.

Improvements in Granting of Judicial Review

Meanwhile, the court continued to hear our petition protesting use of the Law to Prevent Infiltration in cases of Sudanese refugees. In a response submitted to the court on July 10 2007, the government informed the court that it would initially arrest all newcomers under the infiltration law while those who pass the security check would subsequently have their status changed to detention under the Law of Entry to Israel.

This has been the case with newly arrived refugees. However, many groups fall through the cracks or have faced difficulties benefiting from this decision, particularly those who arrived prior to this new decision. The Hotline for Migrant Workers and the Refugee Rights Clinic represented 13 such refugees in three separate cases. In September 2007, we asked the court for a principled decision in which they will state unequivocally that holding any person according to the Law to Prevent Infiltration is illegal. We are still waiting for a ruling in this case.

Renewing Detention at Ketziot Prison

In August 2007, the Israeli authorities opened a detention camp at Ketziot prison, capable of absorbing up to 1,000 refugees. Since this time, most newcomers including men, women and children, have been placed in this facility. Currently, 1,000 refugees are being held in Ketziot prison, many of whom from Sudan while others are from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast. Among the detainees are 100 children and 18 infants (the youngest born in late December). They are being held in large, overcrowded tents lacking hot water. In January 2007, the Israeli Bar Association had issued a report critical of such conditions.

On January 7^th, 2008, the Hotline for Migrant Workers along with four other organizations petitioned the Supreme Court regarding this facility. We requested a substantial improvement in detention conditions and the release of children from this facility. As a result of the filing of the petition, the authorities provided detainees with additional blankets, added another layer of insulation to the tents and distributed space heaters. The court agreed that prison conditions are deficient, yet accepted the State's claim that they are working to improve them. Following the filing of this petition, voluntary organizations were no longer granted access to Ketziot. On March 6, as a result of intensive lobbying, the Hotline for Migrant Workers was granted permission to attend tribunal hearings but entry into prison wings remains off limits.

If You Can't Beat 'Em- Scare 'Em

Despite renewing the policy of detention, this did not sufficiently deter refugees from entering Israel. The Israeli government estimates that during the first two months of 2008 alone, over 2,000 Africans crossed the border. Thus, they employed a new strategy.

In late February, the Israeli police initiated a wide-scale program of round-ups and arrests. The Prison Service was instructed to free over 2,000 places in detention while the Ministry of Interior, police and other government agencies were to prepare for mass deportations. The operation's initiation took place on February 25 when police raided three Tel Aviv shelters and arrested 250 refugees. Some held work permits while others had temporary protection papers. In the following days, additional arrests took place in Israel's south. Most of the refugees were photographed, fingerprinted and released on the same day. Israeli citizens were not immune; three activists were also detained. The Israeli office of the UNHCR issued a strongly worded condemnation of this campaign.

Current Status

A total of 2,500 Sudanese refugees are currently located in Israel. On September 23, 2007, the government announced that it would grant temporary residency status to the 500 refugees from Darfur who were in the country on that date with the intention of deporting the rest to Egypt. In fact, 450 received such status in January while another 150 are expected to be approved as well.

The rest, including an additional 150 from Darfur, have deportation orders. None have received official work permits or are entitled to social benefits, and their right to find employers has now been called into question. Their long-term fate remains unknown with the futures of those from South Sudan being particularly in question. Although the UNHCR is examining the refugees' cases to assess options for resettlement, this process is long and resettlement is far from guaranteed.

What is the Hotline for Migrant Workers Doing?

In addition to legal action, the Hotline for Migrant Workers continues to assist the refugees in other ways. Our volunteers visit detention centers to take testimony from the refugees and provide them with humanitarian aid, representation and hope. We have been actively facilitating family reunification while assisting groups founded and run by the refugees themselves in organizing activities to advance their own welfare.

The Hotline is working with other NGOs and the Israeli government to formulate a long-term solution. We are a member of the Forum for Refugee Rights, a group of seven NGOs dedicated to promoting policy and legislation. We are also in contact with various MPs and Holocaust scholars and have agreed to publicly support the cause.

In 2008, we are continuing these activities and conducting others, among them:

• Visiting refugees at various detention centers while providing them with basic humanitarian aid, information and legal representation intended to secure their release.
  
  
• Providing on-going support and consultation to a refugee advocacy group through provision of office space and facilitation of relevant contacts.
  
  
• Advocating for improved detention conditions.
  
  
• Submitting principled legal petitions on topics such as deportation to Egypt, judicial review and more.
  
  
• Initiating meetings with MPs and decision-makers and providing them with updated and reliable information on the situation.
  
  
• Establishing an advocacy course for refugees and facilitating their media exposure.
  
  
• Initiating approximately 100 media items, conducting 20 educational seminars and trainings, holding at least one public event and distributing one e-newsletter on the issues.
  
  

TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR WORK Please send checks to: The Hotline for Migrant Workers, 75 Nahalat Binyamin Street, Tel-Aviv 65154, Israel or contact Lisa Richlen at: lisa@hotline.org.il. U.S. tax deductible contributions of at least $100 may be made via the New Israel Fund. Contributions should be marked as donor-advised to The Hotline for Migrant Workers and sent to The New Israel Fund, PO Box 91588, Washington DC 20090-1588. U.S. tax deductible contributions of at least $25 may also be sent (and must be made payable) to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc., 317 Madison Avenue, Suite 607, New York, NY 10017 with a recommendation that it be used for us.