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Advocating for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel
Yohannes Bayu, director and founder of NIF grantee the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC), is one of only approximately 190 recognized refugees in Israel. Forced to flee Ethiopia because of political persecution and government harassment, Bayu arrived in Israel in 1997. He was granted political asylum, however only five years later, following a 23-day hunger strike on the steps of the Refugee Commissioner’s office in Jerusalem and an order of Israel’s Supreme Court. Driven by his experiences, Bayu resolved to help the thousands of other asylum seekers escaping to Israel and founded the ARDC in 2004. Bayu has led the ARDC from the early days of a handful of asylum seekers gathering in his living room to arranging accommodation for hundreds in makeshift bomb shelters to leading an influential organization and implementing partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with an annual budget of over US$300,000. Bayu’s unassuming manner belies the energy, creativity and steely determination that has guided the organization since its inception. In recognition of his extraordinary efforts and dedication to the refugee and asylum seeker community, Bayu was presented the Person of the Year Award in 2008 by Yediot Aharonot, an Israeli newspaper. An NIF grantee, the African Refugee Development Center was founded in 2004 by refugees and Israeli citizens to assist, support and empower refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. The ARDC seeks to ensure access to basic social services, and to facilitate refugee and asylum seeker integration, self-sufficiency and ownership in matters affecting their lives, and to date has provided more than 4,500 individuals with shelter, food, medical attention, trauma counseling, advice and basic Hebrew and English classes. The ARDC advocates for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and for a humane and fair Israeli asylum policy, It divides its work between individual counseling, humanitarian aid, education, community development, awareness raising and policy initiatives.
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