Knocking at the Gate – Flawed Access to the Asylum System due to the influx of applicants from the Ukraine and Georgia
Since the start of 2016, Israel has seen a sharp rise in the number of Ukrainian and Georgian citizens applying for asylum. Data collected by the Hotline for Refugees and Migrant (HRM) shows that Israeli entities are involved in the increase in the number of migrants from these countries, and that they include human resource companies, which spread misinformation in the countries of origin about working legally in Israel by exploiting the dysfunctional2 asylum system. They charge high fees for mediation and are allegedly involved in selling fake documents. The emerging picture is that of a new channel of human trafficking3 .
Due to the backlog at the Population and Immigration Authority’s (PIBA) Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Unit in Tel Aviv, all asylum seekers now face limited access to the asylum process. Despite the extended period during which the authorities have had to serve an ever growing population, the necessary changes have yet to be made. Every night, dozens of people wait outside the offices of the RSD Unit in harsh physical conditions hoping to be first in the queue the following morning in order to submit their asylum application.
The word "occupation" brings forth many images: right against left, settlers against the IDF, the Defense budget, boycotts of products from the occupied territories, BDS, the mantra "there is no partner for peace." But few talk about its impact on Israel's standard of living.
This is the second annual monitoring report on the conditions of the detention of migrants and asylum seekers held in administrative detention in Israeli facilities. In February 2016, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (HRM) published its first annual monitoring report, which focused on the conditions in which migrants were held in detention in 2015.
The report – a joint publication of Ir Amim and Peace Now – focuses on the rapid escalation of private settlement activity in the heart of Batan al-Hawa, a Palestinian community in Silwan, located just outside the Old City walls within clear sight of Al-Aqsa. Batan al-Hawa is now the site of the largest attempted settler takeover in East Jerusalem, representing not only the large-scale displacement of an entire community but also the complicity of the Israeli government in facilitating private settlement in the Historic Basin.
