Israel issues ‘red card’ to over 20,000 African asylum seekers

Authorities in Israel have began to issue deportation notices to African asylum seekers mostly from Sudan and Eritrea following a bill passed by the Israeli parliament in December authorising the government to force asylum seekers out of the country.

According to reports, the over 20,000 people who are not held in the country’s open detention facility risk being imprisoned indefinitely if they do not leave the country within 60 days.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reports that the first wave of notices were distributed to single male asylum seekers who are in the country without families on Sunday leaving out parents, women and children at least for now.

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Government representatives reportedly provided refugees during visits to detention centres with a letter that listed Rwanda – and in a previous occasion, Uganda – to relocate them to.

“We would like to inform you that the state of Israel has signed agreements allowing you to leave Israel for a safe third country that will absorb you and give you a residency visa that will allow you to work in that country, and promises not to remove you to your country of origin,” the letter read, according to Haaretz.

According to government figures Israel is home to about 40,000 asylum seekers.

 

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