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Non-recognition and Its Implications: African Asylum Seekers in Israel

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African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis

Abstract

By the end of 2013, an estimated 53,000 Africans resided in Israel; Eritreans and Sudanese who walked through Egypt and the Sinai Desert crossed the Israeli-Egyptian border and sought asylum in Israel. Due to their unlawful border crossing, Israeli authorities defined AAS as illegal migrants and “infiltrators,” instigating hostility against them. The chapter follows the dynamics of creating an African labor market in Israel focusing on four policy decisions: the non-removal regime, settlement policies, the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process and related legal actions, and the establishment of the Holot Detention Camp (2013). Two arguments will be discussed, first is that migration policies and regulations meant to achieve the control of African migration flow has led to an unintentional result – the emergence of an African Labor Market and its subsequent marginalization. Additionally, since the State is not protecting asylum seekers’ rights in general or their work rights in particular, civil society organizations and African community organizations are taking its place.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Third Committee of the General Assembly, 73rd Session, October 31, 2018. Statement by Filippo Grandi, https://www.unhcr.org/admin/hcspeeches/5bdb0a184/third-committee-general-assembly-73rd-session.html

  2. 2.

    Lijnders L., S. Robinson. “From the Horn of Africa to the Middle East: Human Trafficking of Eritrean aAlum Seekers across Borders.” Anti Trafficking Review 2 (2013): 137–154. See also; PHR, Physicians for Human Rights. November 19, 2010. Desert Hell- The Journey of Refugees through the Sinai Desert. Tel Aviv: Physicians for Human Rights.

  3. 3.

    Ziegler, Reuven (Ruvi). “No Asylum for ‘Infiltrators’: The Legal Predicament of Eritrean and Sudanese Nationals in Israel.” Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law 29, no. 2 (2015): 172–191.

  4. 4.

    Yaron H. N. Hashimshony-Yaffe and J. Campbell. “‘Infiltrators’ or Refugees? An Analysis of Israel’s Policy Towards African Asylum-Seekers.” International Migration 51, no. 4 (2013): 144–157.

  5. 5.

    Avineri S., L. Orgad, A. Rubinstein. Coping with Global Migration:Israeli Strategy for Immigration Policy (a Proposal). Jerusalem: Mezila, (2009): 62–64. [Hebrew]. See also; Furst-Nichols R., K. Jacobson. African Migration to Israel- Debt, Employment and Remittances. Feinstein International Center, Boston: Tufts University, 2011.

  6. 6.

    Ben- Dor, A. “Asylum-Seekers and Refugees- Unwanted Guests in Israel.” Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Human Rights Clinique. 2008. http://www.law.tau.ac.il/Heb/?CategoryID=499&ArticleID=723. [Hebrew]. See also; Kritzman-Amir, T. and Yonatan Berman. “Responsibility Sharing and the Rights of Refugees: The Case of Israel.” Geo. Wash. Int’l L. Rev. 41, no. 3 (2010): 619–649.

  7. 7.

    See yearly data publications https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/reports/foreigners_summary_2013/he/2013_summary_foreignworkers_report.pdf, https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/foreign_workers_stats/he/sum_2014_final.pdf and https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/foreign_workers_stats/he/summary_2015_new.pdf

    Although the data it presents may be criticized as incomplete and as inconsistent at times, it is the only official source of information.

  8. 8.

    https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/reports/foreign_workers_stats_q1_2019/he/577455-ZARIM-2019-5.pdf

  9. 9.

    ASSAF. “Welfare Services to Asylum Seekers in Israel.” 2014. Tel Aviv. [Hebrew].

  10. 10.

    Gavizon, R. “Introduction.” In Unauthorized Immigration as a Challange to Israel, by Ruth Gavizon and Meir Elran, 11–16, 2013. Tel Aviv: The Institute for National Security Studies and Metzilah. [Hebrew]

  11. 11.

    UNHCR data https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2018/

  12. 12.

    Cholewinski, Ryszard. Study on Obstacles to Effective Access of Irregular Migrants to Minimum Social Rights. Council of Europe Publishing, 2005.

  13. 13.

    Deirdre, Toomey. “Employment Rights for Migrant Workers in Ireland.” International Migration and Integration 16 (2015): 249–263.

  14. 14.

    Doyle, Kevin J. “Workers’ Rights as Human Rights.” Working USA; Armonk 8, no. 4 (2005): 512–516.

  15. 15.

    Rosenhek, Z. “The Politics of Claims- Making by Labour Migrants in Israel.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 25, no. 4 (1999): 575–595. See also; Wurgaft, N. “Police! Open Up!- Migrant Workers in Israel.” Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2006. [Hebrew].

  16. 16.

    Sabar, G. “African Christianity in the Jewish State: Adaptation, Accomodation and Legitimation of Migrant WOrkers Churches 1990–2003.” Journal of Religion in Africa 34, no. 4 (2004): 407–437.

  17. 17.

    Barak-Bianco, A. Eating Places of Refugees from Eritrea and Sudan in South Tel-Aviv: Ethnic Enteprenuership in Limbo. University of Haifa: Thesis Submitted to the University of Haifa Israel, 2013.

  18. 18.

    Hashimshony-Yaffe, N. and Yaron-Masegena H. “In the Absense of States: Transnationalism and Asylum- Eritrean Refugees in Israel.” African Diaspora 8 (2015): 121–146.

  19. 19.

    https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/return.htm

  20. 20.

    Richmond, N. “Israel’s Law of Return Analysis of its Evolution and Present Application.” Dickinson Journal of International Law 12 (1993): 95–133. See also; Lustic, I. “Israel as a non Arab State: The Political Implication of Mass Migration of Non- Jewish.” Middle East Journal 55, no. 3 (1999): 417–433.

  21. 21.

    UNHCR. “Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.” Geneva., December, 2010. https://cms.emergency.unhcr.org/documents/11982/55726/Convention+relating+to+the+Status+of+Refugees+%28signed+28+July+1951%2C+entered+into+force+22+April+1954%29+189+UNTS+150+and+Protocol+relating+to+the+Status+of+Refugees+%28signed+31+January+1967%2C+ent

  22. 22.

    Ziegler, (Ruvi) Reuven. “A Matter of Definition: On “Infiltrators” and “Asylum Seekers” in Israel.” The Israel Democratic Institute. January 26, 2011. https://en.idi.org.il/articles/3940

  23. 23.

    Ibid, Ziegler 2015.

  24. 24.

    Kritzman-Amir, T. “Otherness” as the Underlying Principle in Israel’s Asylum Regime. ExpressO., 2009. http://works.bepress.com/tally_kritzman_amir/3/. See also; Kritzman-Amir,T. and Yonatan Berman. “Responsibility Sharing and the Rights of Refugees: The Case of Israel.” Geo. Wash. Int’l L. Rev. 41, no. 3 (2010): 619–649.

  25. 25.

    Ibid, Ben-Dor, 2008. See also; Ibid, Lijinder and Robinson, 2013; Sabar G., Elizabeth Tsurkov. “Israel’s Policies toward Asylum-Seekers:” IAI Working Papers., 2015. http://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaiwp1520.pdf.; Berman, Y. and Ziegler, R. “Immigration Detention in Israel.” Chap. 16 in Immigration Detention: The Migration of a Policy and its Human Impacts, by Nethery Amy and Stephanie J. Silverman, 154–162. London and New York: Routledge, 2015.

  26. 26.

    Ibid, Ziegler 2015.

  27. 27.

    Ibid, UNHCR 2010.

  28. 28.

    See Ministry of Foreign Affairs document cited in Haaretz, May 15, 2012. http://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/article-print-page/1.1708042

  29. 29.

    Ibid, Ziegler 2011.

  30. 30.

    This was the situation mainly in Tel Aviv, since interaction between Israelis and Africans in other parts of the country was rare (Natan 2012).

  31. 31.

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4693725,00.html

  32. 32.

    The full details of the court appeal can be found in http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/petitions/hit5616.pdf [Hebrew].

  33. 33.

    Reported in https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/education/.premium-1.2211091

  34. 34.

    https://www.idi.org.il/articles/3149

  35. 35.

    Israeli Government desicion no. 2104. See https://www.gov.il/he/departments/policies/2010_des2104

  36. 36.

    See also HCJ 6312/10, as well as letter from the Knesset Research and Information Center to Nitzan Horowitz MK, dated February 2, 2012. The Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel (ASSAF) also published a letter of information for employers. See http://assaf.org.il/he/sites/default/files/meida_maasikim_sugei_ashrot_1.pdf and Natan 2011.

  37. 37.

    See https://fs.knesset.gov.il/globaldocs/MMM/df566b58-e9f7-e411-80c8-00155d010977/2_df566b58-e9f7-e411-80c8-00155d010977_11_10515.pdf [Hebrew].

  38. 38.

    https://www.nevo.co.il/law_html/Law01/247_001.htm [Hebrew].

  39. 39.

    https://fs.knesset.gov.il/19/law/19_lsr_301620.pdf [Hebrew].

  40. 40.

    See https://www.maariv.co.il/news/new.aspx?pn6Vq=E&0r9VQ=EKHFG

  41. 41.

    For government decisions regarding the establishment of the Holot Detention Facility, see https://www.gov.il/he/departments/policies/2011_des3936 https://www.gov.il/he/departments/policies/2013_govdec960

  42. 42.

    See Elizabeth Zorkov, Policy Towards Asylum Seekers, in Haaretz.

  43. 43.

    Hotline, for Refugees and Migrants. “Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in Israel.” Tel Aviv. 2013. [Hebrew].

  44. 44.

    During a visit to the community in Ashdod, on June 16, 2014, I noticed many Sudanese-owned stores were closed.

  45. 45.

    “African Refugees Protest Detainment in Israel.” New York Times (December 17, 2013) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/world/middleeast/african-refugees-protest-detainment-in-israel.html?_r=2

  46. 46.

    http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Tens-of-thousands-of-asylum-seekers-march-in-Tel-Aviv-demanding-rights-337119

  47. 47.

    For Court Appeal HCJ 7146/12, see https://supremedecisions.court.gov.il/Home/Download?path=HebrewVerdicts%5C12%5C460%5C071%5Cb24&fileName=12071460.B24&type=4

    HCJ Decisions 8425/13 and 7385/13 (September 22, 2014) http://elyon2.court.gov.il/files/13/850/073/M19/13073850.M19.htm

    An unofficial translation into English can be found in https://www.refworld.org/cases,ISR_SC,54e605334.html

  48. 48.

    The only exception was an order not to enforce the policy in cases of individuals who could not be subject to deportation (Reif, Blum, and Hochman 2014, 17).

  49. 49.

    Although not a member state of the Council of Europe, Israel has observer status. See https://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/our-member-states

  50. 50.

    http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=36145

  51. 51.

    Based on interviews held by the author in Tel Aviv with Noa Kaufman (May 22, 2014), Ilana Pinshaw (June 9, 2014), and Gershon Gelman (October 23, 2014). See also Pinshaw 2014; Reif, Blum, and Hochman 2014; Villar 2014.

  52. 52.

    Kaufman, N. Refugees and Asylum Seekers and Employment. Tel Aviv: Kav LaOved Workers Hotline, 2013. [Hebrew]. See also; Villar, M. “Violations of Contract Workers’ Labour Rights. A Summary of complaints to Kav La Oved 2013–2014.” Kavlaoved.org.il. http://kavloved.org.il/en/wp-vontent/uploads/2014/09/Contrct-Workers-Report-2014.pdf

  53. 53.

    The issue was first raised in 2008 and a solution was promised. However, until 2014, pension benefits were only allocated, if at all, upon termination of employment.

  54. 54.

    Ibid, Barak-Bianco 2013.

  55. 55.

    Pinshaw, I. “High Stakes: African Asylum Seeker Entrepreneurs in Israel.” The Broker. October 28, 2014. http://www/thebrokeronline.eu/Blogs/Employment/High-stakes-African-asylum-sseke-entrepreneurs-in-Israel

  56. 56.

    See www.kuchinate.com

  57. 57.

    Rozen, S. To Make the Procedure More Efficient., 2014. Tel Aviv: Kav LaOved. [Hebrew]

  58. 58.

    https://hotline.org.il/en/information-about-the-new-deposit-law/

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  1. The Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo, Tel Aviv Yaffo, Israel

    Nurit Hashimshony-Yaffe

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  1. University of Maryland, Hyattsville, MD, USA

    Olayiwola Abegunrin

  2. Department of History and Political Science, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA

    Sabella O. Abidde

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Hashimshony-Yaffe, N. (2021). Non-recognition and Its Implications: African Asylum Seekers in Israel. In: Abegunrin, O., Abidde, S.O. (eds) African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56642-5_8

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