Thousands of Migrants demand Asylum in Israel

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

Tel Aviv, ISRAEL – More than 30,000 African asylum seekers crammed into the streets of Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel calling for migrant workers to go on strike and demanding the Israeli government recognize their status as refugees with chants of “we need asylum,” “We are all refugees” and “yes to freedom, no to prison!” The demonstration is the largest protests by migrants in the history of the Jewish state.

Tens of thousands of African migrants take to the streets of Tel Aviv demanding recognition as refugees. (photo Courtesy of CNN International)

According to police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld, most of the protesters were asylum seekers who had fled Africa and wish to stay in the country. He said “There are thousands of people assembling in central Tel Aviv and they are mostly Africans who are requesting to stay in the country.”

Under new legislation passed by the Knesset on December 10 last year Israel police are able to identify and detain any migrants who have entered the country illegally. Under this legislation these migrants can be held for up to a year without trail in Israel. The state has also opened a new facility in the Negev desert for the purpose of detaining illegal migrants.

Mutasim Ali, of the African Refugee Development Center, entered Israel after fleeing Darfur is among those calling for African migrants to be granted Refugee status by the Israeli government. He says “All of us are fleeing genocide, fleeing dictatorship regimes. Looking for protection,” according to Ali a migrant “doesn’t care where he gets it. We know it’s too difficult to cross the border making our way to Israel, but that’s the only option at the time.”

An Eritrean asylum-seeker who participated in the demonstration said “We have fled persecution, dictatorships, civil wars and genocides.” Arguing that the government of Israel “must study our requests for asylum and treat us like human beings.”

Asylum seekers complain that the new legislation in Israel is evidence that their call for refugee status is being ignored by the Israel government, which is instead trading the migrants as illegal workers, the state’s new legislation treats migrants as illegal workers.

The asylum seekers complain that the Israeli government isn’t viewing their goal as legitimate, but rather sees them as migrant workers. According to activists, more than 50,000 migrants work in illegal, low-wage, positions in Israel, a country of 7.9 million people. Most of these activist have fled violence and feminine in East-Africa.

The fight for recognition of refugees in Israel is an uphill battle. Since the creating of the Jewish state in 1948, Israel has recognised the status of fewer than 200 refugees, human rights groups say.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Thousands Of Asylum Seekers Protest In Israel – 5 January 2014

CNN International – African Migrants Protest, Push for Asylum in Israel – 5 January 2014

Haaretz – Knesset Okays Detention of Migrants without Trial – 10 December 2014

The Guardian – African Migrants Stage Tel Aviv Protests against Israel’s New Detention Law – 6 January 2014

Russian President Putin Nixes Ban on Protests at Sochi Winter Olympics

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SOCHI, Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin has lifted a ban on demonstrations at the Winter Olympic venue of Sochi.

President Putin was at a rehearsal of the Games’ opening ceremony on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of ABC News)

President Putin amended a decree to allow activist groups to conduct demonstrations and marches at pre-approved sites. In a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin indicated that the sites would be approved by the venue’s security force. The Russian President was at the Olympic venue as recently as Saturday, when he attended a rehearsal of the Winter Games’ opening ceremony.

“Gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets, which are not directly connected to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, could be staged on January 7 – March 21 2014… only after agreeing with… a local security body,” the release stated.

The ban on rallies had been imposed in August as a part of security crackdowns as a direct response to two suicide bombings in Volgograd which killed 34 people. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, however there is are groups in Southern Russia who aim to carve a separate Islamic state out of the region (including Sochi) that are thought to have ties to the attacks.

Campaign groups had been advocating for a lift of the bans, pleading that they violated Russia’s constitution. The International Olympic Committee praised Putin’s decision, the latest in a series of gestures aimed at silencing critics of Russia’s human-rights record.

“It is in line with the assurances that President Putin gave us last year and part of the Russian authorities’ plans to ensure free expression during the Games whilst delivering safe and secure Games,” the committee stated.

The Russian President has planned to utilize the Sochi Olympics to show a political turnaround under his administration after the fall of the Soviet Union. Last month, the Putin also freed several of Russia’s most notorious prisoners: former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and two members of the female punk group Pussy Riot.

Human Rights groups have criticized Russia’s treatment of migrant workers, particularly at Olympic sites, and have advocated for a boycott of the Sochi Games over a law banning the spread of “gay propaganda” among minors, saying it violates basic freedoms.

A December opinion poll showed that President Putin’s public approval rating fell to its lowest level in over 13 years as the country is facing high inflation and a struggling economy.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Sochi Winter Olympics: Vladimir Putin Lifts Blanket Ban on Political Protests – 4 December 2014

Al Jazeera – Russia Eases Restriction on Olympic Protests – 4 December 2o14

BBC News – Winter Olympics: Russia to Allow Protests in Special Zone – 4 December 2014

Russia Today – Putin Lifts Ban on Protests at Sochi Olympics, Orders Area Specially for Rallies – 4 December 2014