HE. Shimon Peres President of the State of Israel,
Prime Minister Olmert
Members of Knesset,
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel
Miki Bavli, the head of UNHCR in Tel Aviv
Hotline for Migrant Workers
Dear Excellencies and dignitaries
The undersigned are Eritrean asylum seekers, who managed to enter in the territories of the State of Israel in search for safe haven. We demand the State of Israel stop the idea of expelling us to Egypt or Eritrea and provide us with proper procedure for the hearing of our asylum applications and the basic refugee rights.
We believe that you are well aware the agonies and sufferings of the people of Eritrean are facing at home. Those who managed to escape from the Country are also suffering in many northern African countries, including Libya, Egypt, and the Sudan and many of them have lost their lives in those countries and in the Mediterranean Sea. We are among the very few who made it to the blessed land of Israel.
The African Refugees situation has been a major issue in Israel in the past few months. The majority of these refugees may be the Sudanese and it is good to see that there are some organizations that assist these refugees and their case, at least the Darfurians, is well known to the World that they get attention and recognition.
However, we Eritreans are among those from other African who managed to escape from the horrendous situations in their respective countries and flee in search for protection and safety for their lives. Labeling us collectively as economic migrants by some officials here in Jerusalem is committing an error of generalization. There is also an argument by some people that refugees’ case is entertained in the first country of entry. Nonetheless, many of such asylum seekers have been victims of expulsion, deportation and that put their lives at risk.
The asylum seekers that are facing risks of deportation in Israel at the moment are from Sudan, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, and others. If we take the case of Eritrea, a new nation 16 years old in the Horn of Africa, which is not known to many ordinary Israelis, the current situation of its citizens is saddening. According to the 2006 US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released on March 6, 2007, the Country has a worsening human right situation year after year. The report indicates that the government “continued to commit numerous serious abuses. including: … unlawful killings by security forces; torture and beatings of prisoners, some resulting in death; harsh and life threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; executive interference in the judiciary and the use of a special court system to limit due process; … government roundups of young men and women for national service; arrest, incarceration, and torture of family members of national service evaders, some of whom reportedly died of unknown causes while in detention; severe restrictions on basic civil liberties etc...
During the last 10 years, the citizens at the age of 18 - 50 are in unlimited military service without pay. Any person, who showed some signs of resistance (real or perceived), is faced with harsh measures including taking his/her life. The government continued to authorize the use of deadly force against anyone resisting or attempting to flee during military searches for deserters and draft evaders and many dies or killed in such incidents. 161 youths who were trying to escape from Wia Training Military Camp were shot and killed at one time in June 2005 as reported by the London-based NGO, Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights and no action is taken against those military personnel who committed that crime. Many people are imprisoned many years some unlimitedly, for the only crime that they were found with a Bible or active participation in the Churh.
Mr. James Swan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs has correctly described the Eritrean reality “atrocious”. “Youth are sent to camps for indoctrination. Citizens in the prime of their lives are forced into national service; anyone who refuses is beaten. If you flee, your family is imprisoned. Those who fail to espouse officially sanctioned opinions languish in metal shipping containers”[*]
Many of these Eritrean asylum seekers are, therefore, escapees from such brutal actions of the totalitarian government. Each of them has taken very huge cost and high risk. Each of them has to pay more than USD 2,000.00 (two thousands dollars) to smugglers just to cross the Country’s border. Many of them have traveled more than 20 to 30 hours on foot without food and water. Unfortunately, not all make it out of the country. Many of them are spotted and caught or become victims of the “shoot on sight policy”. Only 40-60% of those who tried make it out of the country. The rest are shot, or caught. Anyone who dears to try such expensive, risky and daunting measure is the one, who can afford to pay the cost the transport cost. Most of these asylum seekers have spent minimum of USD 4,000 to 6,000 to reach in this Holly land. One can imagine the value of this amount in the third world. Labeling these asylum seekers collectively as economic migrants and denying their basic refugee rights in the very Nation that was created and built by former refugees is really ironic.
There is argument that refugees’ case is seen in the country where they first entered. In the case of Eritrean asylum seekers, many of them have crossed two or more countries to reach this Land. The Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya, Egypt, Djubouti, etc are proved to be not safe for these asylum seekers. Many of them are shocked to learn that their compatriots are kidnapped and forcefully loaded to big trucks or plans in their hundreds or thousands and returned to tyranny government to face torture, imprisonment in harsh conditions and even death. Deporting these groups without examining their cases would put their lives in very great danger. The very people at the top of the UNHCR – Jerusalem trying to justify the Prime Minister Olmert’s Decision to deport those asylum seeks considering them collectively as economic migrates is really shocking. The very Prime Ministers, whose parents flee Russia to seek protection in China to deport indiscriminately these asylum seekers, can only be explained by nothing but insensitivity.
The cyclic pattern of history tells us that nothing remains the same and things change. Peoples who are living in misery and darkness today were pursuing good living yesterday and their Sun will shine tomorrow. Eritrea was a safe haven for Jews yesterday. Menahem Kanafi, Israel's ambassador to Eritrea said referring to the old times, "In lots of cases, Jews in Arab countries saw a possibility of living here [Asmara - Eritrea], not under oppressive conditions, and of making a life for themselves." Besides, an old Eritrean man quoted saying, “As people, we Eritreans tolerate each other, be they Muslim like me, Christian, or Jewish." (Peter Martell, AFP, July 13, 2007).[†] These two testimonies indicate that these asylum seekers are from friendly country and amicable people. When the President was seriously sick in May, 1993, the first Country that the government could see for medication was Israel.
The plights and agonies of Eritreans by many of the people and government of Libya, and the Government of Sudan lately are disturbing. The fate of Eritreans who were deported and forcibly returned to Eritrea is vivid to the World. Many of them were killed/died, many kept in solitary prisons, many dumped to forced labour and many sustained permanent disabilities. It may not match the Libyan scale, but many Eritrean asylum seekers have been abused and badly humiliated by Egyptian and Arab Sudanese security personnel. If the State of the Promised Land goes after the Libyan example, it is nothing but shame to all the freedom loving people.
It is not the first time that Eritrea that flee their country, they are all over the World, and they are not known for theft, robbery, or any kind of terrorism for that matter. Rather all are ambitious to get back to their country and live in peace. The people’s Movement that they supported, nurtured and paid priceless value for is now hijacked and taken away from the owners by some selfish individuals. So these Eritrean asylum seekers are in no way pose any security risk to Israel, or any country for that matter.
PM Ehud Olmert said “these people, who have crossed the border without our invitation” referring to these asylum seekers. One can’t wait invitation when chased by a monster. Invitation comes only after one gets temporary protection and the asylum case heard. At times urgency one may not need invitation to pay a visit to a friend house. Those people who were nice others, at least deserve a temporary protection and given a chance their cases to be heard.
One may assume that only people of certain age/young men and conscripted soldiers are the target of the brutal regime. Rather, parents, spouses and even cousins and in-laws of those who resisted the conscriptions of tyranny regime are also victims. Parents are asked to pay about 50,000 ERN (3,333 USD) per person who escaped from the conscription or evaded the draft. If three people escape from one family, the parents or anybody close is forced to pay USD 10,000 or go to jail for unlimited period of time. There are parents who are forced to pay the same amount for those who lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. Many of those who are dubbed as “infiltrators” are parents who are wanted in their country for the only reason that their children or close relatives are missed from the army or evaded conscription. These are the people who have chosen peaceful opposition rather than perpetuating cycles of violence.
Therefore, we, the undersigned persons, demand that the planned forcible expulsion of asylum seekers by the Government of the State of Israel is inhuman and in contravention with international human right conventions. The decision to expel us to Egypt or to the country of origin-Eritrea will definitely put our lives at risk. Moreover, we demand the State of Israel to consider us accurately as asylum seekers (not economic migrants) and provide us basic refugee rights and procedures for hearing our cases.
[*] “U.S. Policy in the Horn of Africa” Released on August 9, 2007, 4th International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, August 4, 2007
[†] “Eritrea's last Jew nostalgic for past community”, Peter Martell, AFP, July 13, 2007, the article also published on Jpost)