The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) strongly condemns the adoption of the “Prevention of Infiltration Law” which passed in the Knesset on Monday, January 9. This law legalises the detention of migrants and asylum seekers for three years without any charge or trial if they have entered the territory without permit. If the asylum seekers are identified as coming from an ‘enemy’ country, such as Sudan, they might face indefinite detention.
The Law, passed with a vast majority in its last reading at the Knesset, considers anyone who enters Israel irregularly as an “infiltrator”, a term used in the past to designate armed militants only. The law fails to distinguish migrant workers from asylum seekers or recognised refugees and does not exclude pregnant women or children. Consequently, accompanied minors are also to be subjected to the same detention periods as their older relatives.
This law is another step in a series of measures undermining the rights of asylum seekers, planned and implemented by the Israeli government. Other such measures include the building of the largest immigrants’ detention facility in the world (an open-air prison that will house some 10,000 people in the Negev desert).
The terminology used by the Israeli government portrays asylum seekers as nothing short of “security threats” and thus endangers common understandings regarding refugees, not only in Israel but in the whole world. The Israeli Anti-Infiltration law contributes to a growing trend in which asylum seeking had become a crime and the refugee a criminal.
The EMHRN acknowledges the right of Israel and all other states to regulate entry to their territory as well as to protect their borders. However, this does not allow any state to violate human rights and international law in the process of doing so. As for detention, international law stipulates that the decision to detain a person should be based on detailed assessment of each case where detention is shown not only to be suitable but absolutely essential. The systematic and prolonged detention of all individuals entering Israel irregularly regardless of their personal history (ex: escaping genocide, war, rape etc.) clearly violates international law. In addition, asylum seekers should never be subject to refoulement (which is e.g. a violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture), denied entry, or deported to countries where they might be subjected to torture or acts of ill treatments.
The EMHRN considers this law to be morally questionable as it seems to target asylum seekers fleeing from war-torn countries, arguably one of the weakest and most vulnerable groups. The EMHRN therefore urges the Israeli authorities to respect its obligations under international law and to respect the international conventions to which it is signatory such as the 1951 Convention and its Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
As a consequence Israel should revoke the law and develop, in partnership with Israeli and international civil society, a comprehensive asylum policy and relevant legislation and procedures to bind Israel to its obligations under the 1951 Convention.
Background
The Prevention of Infiltration Law amends the 1954 Infiltration Law which was meant to exist only under the state of emergency. However, since the latter was never lifted, the law is still in vigour. A previous similar bill was debated in the Knesset in 2010 but was withdrawn before its final reading in July 2010 at the request of the Ministry of Defence. In 2011 a new bill was introduced. The draft law passed its preliminary reading on March 28, 2011 and was then submitted to the Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee for discussions. On 19 December, the Committee voted in favour of the legislation. On January 9, 2012 the law passed the second and third readings in the plenum with a large majority (37-8).