African Refugees Development Center

Goals
To further the rights of all African refugees in Israel.

Background
Israel is committed in principle to granting asylum to refugees whose life is in danger in their own countries. The exact number of African refugees currently living in Israel is unknown; estimates range between several hundred and 2,000. To acquire refugee status, individuals must submit an application to the United Nations Commission for Refugees in Israel requesting political asylum. The Commission reviews the application and gives its recommendations to a government committee that advises the Interior Minister whether to confer refugee status. The Commission's procedures do not meet the current standards of refugee commissions elsewhere in the world with regard to the right to appeal a decision to reject an application, the right to representation, etc. And the Interior Ministry's practices lack transparency and clear standards for the issuance of work permits to refugees who are in the process of applying to the Commission; in most cases such permits are not granted. Another major problem is the protracted unsupervised detention of refugees whose requests have been rejected.

Last year saw increased public awareness and debate about refugees seeking asylum in Israel, in the wake of the detention of refugees from Darfur.

The African Refugees Development Center was established in 2003 by an Ethiopian refugee who received political asylum in Israel and an Israeli citizen of African origin.

Strategies

• Assisting individuals with procedures for acquiring refugee status and access to various services once they have gained it;
• Providing legal assistance, chiefly refugees in detention, through the clinic at Tel Aviv University and attorneys in private practice;
• Advocacy and raising public awareness of the issue;
• Providing medical care, through Physicians for Human Rights.

Highlights

• Convened a meeting in Tel Aviv of representatives of the seven communities of African refugees in Israel human rights organizations that work with the Center.
• With other human rights organizations organized held a demonstration in Jerusalem to protest the detention of refugees from Darfur and to bring the issue of refugees to public attention.
• As a member of a coalition that includes Kav LaOved, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights and the Refugee Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University, worked for the release of refugees from Darfur from house arrest and jail.
• Advocacy on behalf of 60 refugees from Sierra Leone whom Israel decided to deport, including appearing before the Knesset Interior Committee and staging a demonstration outside the Interior Ministry.
• Persuaded the UN Commission for Refugees to send an observer to supervise the work procedures of the Commission in Israel.
• Met with the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem municipalities to pursue the idea of establishing shelters for refugees.