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Surviving in Limbo Lived Experiences Among Sudanese and Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Israel

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Surviving in Limbo Lived Experiences Among Sudanese and Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Israel SURVIVING IN LIMBO LIVED EXPERIENCES AMONG SUDANESE AND ERITREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ISRAEL BY MAYA PALEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOAZ SAMORAI BY BOAZ PHOTOGRAPHY AID ORGANIZATION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ISRAEL JUNE 2011 ASSAF, THE AID ORGANIZATION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ISRAEL, PROVIDES BOTH SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY TO PROTECT AND STRENGTHEN THE UNDERPRIVILEGED AND LARGELY MISUNDERSTOOD AFRICAN ASYLUM SEEKER COMMUNITIES IN ISRAEL. PLEASE CONTACT [email protected] OR VISIT WWW.ASSAF.ORG.IL FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ASSAF. TO CONTACT MAYA PALEY, EMAIL HER DIRECTLY AT [email protected]. SURVIVING IN LIMBO LIVED EXPERIENCES AMONG SUDANESE AND ERITREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ISRAEL BY MAYA PALEY THIS REPORT IS THE FIRST OF TWO IN THE SERIES ENTITLED ‘SURVIVING IN LIMBO’. THE SECOND REPORT COVERS THE COMMUNITY FORMATION AND CHALLENGES OF THE ERITREAN AND SUDANESE POPULATIONS IN ISRAEL, WHILE THIS REPORT FOCUSES ON THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF INDIVIDUAL ASYLUM SEEKERS. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 INTRODUCTION 11 BACKGROUND 12 ISRAEL’S CURRENT POLICY 13 PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE 14 METHODOLOGY 15 COMMUNITY SEMI-PARTICIPATORY APPROACH 16 DATA COLLECTION 16 CONSTRAINTS 17 FINDINGS 18 MOVEMENT TO ISRAEL 19 SUDANESE: PUSH AND PULL FACTORS 20 ERITREANS: PUSH AND PULL FACTORS 21 ARRIVAL TO ISRAEL 22 DARFURIS 22 SOUTH SUDANESE 23 ERITREANS 23 LIFE IN ISRAEL 24 STATUS 24 EMPLOYMENT 26 HOUSING 29 PHYSICAL HEALTH 30 GENDER AND FAMILY RELATIONS 33 PHYSICAL SECURITY 37 IDENTITY AND CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES 39 RELATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS 43 REPATRIATION TO SUDAN: HOW VOLUNTARY IS VOLUNTARY? 44 PSYCHOSOCIAL COPING MECHANISMS: SADNESS, DEPRESSION, FEAR, AND ANXIETY 47 RECOMMENDATIONS 51 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS 52 COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND GROUPS 57 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND MUNICIPALITIES 58 REPATRIATION TO SUDAN 59 ANNEX 61 6 I’d like to dedicate this report to my grandfather, Saba Lester Paley, a man who believed in me unconditionally, and whose model of ethics and integrity are something one can only aspire to. Thank you, Saba, for teaching me to fight for what is right. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was made possible due to the support, encouragement, and effort of many individuals. I would first like to express my deepest appreciation to all of the respondents, community advisors, and friends from the Eritrean and Sudanese communities who not only took the time out of their busy schedules to meet and spend time with me, but who were more than willing to share their knowledge and experiences, as well as to welcome me into their lives and homes. I would especially like to express gratitude toward the translators who did much more than just translate. Thank you to Domoz Bereket, Tesfu Berhane, Echlas Goma, Guy Josif, Nyadak Michael, Nuredin Musa, Mehari Okbay, Zebib Sultan, and Isayas Teklebrhan for spending countless hours visiting sites, attending events, translating, introducing me to others, and answering any and all of the questions I had for you. Thank you to Sunday Dieng and Morris Mlwal for your assistance throughout the project. This project would never have been accomplished without all of you. I would particularly like to thank Yiftach Millo for supervising and supporting this research, and for volunteering much of his time to work with me on assessing and analyzing the report. I would also like to thank the rest of the ASSAF staff - Aladin Abaker, Bracha Shapiro, Hamutal Blanc, Merav Bat Gil, Orit Marom, Orit Rubin, Rachel Posner, and Ronen Halabi. I’d especially like to thank Orit Marom for ensuring that my experience as a Social Justice Fellow at ASSAF was meaningful and positive, Aladin Abaker for being a great friend and advisor throughout the project, Rachel Posner for reading through and editing the final draft, and Merav Bat Gil for both editing the final draft and for her incessant care and support throughout the year. Thank you to the ASSAF Board of Directors as well, especially to Michal Givoni for her insights on the purpose and goals of the research. Thank you to all of the transcribers - Abe Paluch, Dora Kishinevsky, Lee Samuel, Linda Livni, Nitzan Lubi, Or Lazmi, Trey Neufeld - Pierce, and Tzipora Henig - for your hard work, and to all the practitioners who met with me and gave me key information for the research. Thank you to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for your ongoing support of ASSAF and of this research project. Thank you as well to War Child Holland for your advice and assistance. I cannot express enough gratitude to the New Israel Fund and Shatil for providing me with the NIF/Shatil Social Justice Fellowship, without which I would not have been able to conduct this project. I would especially like to thank Anat Yona and Dana Pereg for helping me get through some of the personal challenges I faced while conducting this research. Thank you to all of the other NIF/Shatil Fellows - you have been wonderful friends throughout the year. I am grateful to Devora Liss, Keren Simons, and Rachel Singer, and to my loving father, Robby Paley, for editing the report on very short notice. Thank you to all of my incredible family and friends for all of your support and love throughout the year - you know who you are. To my parents Tiky and Robby - words cannot describe how much I appreciate you both. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PHOTOGRAPHY BY LIOR PATEL PHOTOGRAPHY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 Since 2005, an estimated 35,000 asylum seekers from African countries have entered Israel’s borders. The Israeli government estimates that almost 60% are from Eritrea and over 25% come from Sudan. The government has issued temporary 3-month visas to over 26,000 of the asylum seekers, work permits to 2000 Eritreans, and temporary residence permits to almost 500 Darfuris. Nevertheless, the refugee status determination (RSD) procedure in Israel remains inaccessible and acquiring refugee status is almost impossible for non-Jewish asylum seekers who make their way to Israel. And in November 2010, in an effort to contain and deter asylum seekers from entering Israel, the Knesset approved of a plan to build a detention facility to house 8,000-10,000 asylum seekers in an isolated area of the Negev desert. As the State’s policies toward the asylum seekers harshen in order to deter asylum seekers from coming and to encourage those who are in Israel to leave, social, economic, and psychological impacts on the asylum seekers who already live in Israel are increasingly apparent. These policies have resulted in the exclusion of asylum seekers not only from accessing social services, but also from living ‘normal’ lives within Israeli society. The Sudanese and Eritreans have adapted traditional methods of assisting members of their respective communities and have established various networks and means for aiding themselves. Furthermore, Israeli Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have stepped in to provide many of the social services asylum seekers do not receive in Israel. The CSOs, however, are unable to meet all of the needs of the asylum seekers, let alone to fully comprehend the complexities of their daily lives; and, the asylum seekers’ community organizations do not have the financial capacity nor the bargaining power to meet all of their community members’ needs either. Accordingly, the objective of this research project was to gain knowledge and an understanding of the various self-help mechanisms, both formal and informal, of the South Sudanese, Darfuri, and Eritrean populations currently residing within Israel’s borders and to provide recommendations to the CSOs, community organizations, and Israeli government agencies on how to reduce the gaps between what the asylum seekers need or desire and what they receive or aspire toward. This report aims to provide a voice, in their own words, of the lived experiences of the asylum seekers in Israel. The limbo that asylum seekers experience as their present and futures are uncertain leads many to suffer from anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Their complicated visa status, employment insecurity, lack of social services, and lack of health insurance and access are only the tangible challenges asylum seekers experience. Beyond financial and physical pressures, many asylum seekers are pessimistic with regard to their personal lives, especially single men whose prospects for establishing families and for achieving stability are slim. Furthermore, traditional gender roles undergo significant changes in Israel, changing family dynamics and affecting gender relations. Also, it is not always possible for asylum seekers to practice cultural traditions and religious rituals, causing feelings of remorse and hindering people from finding outlets to cope with their daily lives. Some asylum seekers become so distressed that they choose to go back to their respective countries, knowing that their decision is risky and that opportunities will likely be minimal for them. Of course, some individuals find positive outlets by becoming active in their communities - religious, political, or cultural. For asylum seekers who have been in Israel for several years, they feel that they have exhausted their efforts to achieve their goals or to improve their future prospects. Most people simply deal with their sadness or stress by not dealing with it. Many asylum seekers sleep all day long if they cannot find work. Most asylum seekers express that daily challenges like not eating or sleeping in the park are minor problems in comparison to the more complex issues they face like the uncertainty about their futures. Most of the Israeli CSOs working with the asylum seekers believe that the State of Israel should take responsibility and adequately provide protection for the asylum seekers in Israel, including the implementation of a proper Refugee Status Determination procedure. However, until the government makes the appropriate changes, there are modifications that the CSOs can make to improve the current situation for asylum seekers in Israel.
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