Court Also Limits Detention of New Arrivals
Israel’s High Court of Justice correctly found Holot to be a detention center, despite government protestations to the contrary. Instead of using detention and the threat of detention to coerce Eritreans and Sudanese to return to countries where they would risk being persecuted, Israel should develop a fair and workable asylum system that offers them protection and a chance to live in dignity.
(Washington, DC) – Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on September 22, 2014 that the law establishing a facility where Israel is holding thousands of asylum seekers and migrants is void, Human Rights Watch said today.
The ruling gives the government 90 days to close the facility, called the Holot Residency Center, or change the legal framework of a policy that the court said had a cumulative effect amounting to detention. The court also declared void the provision that allows the government to detain newly arrived “infiltrators” for a period of one year.
The ruling gives the government 90 days to close the facility, called the Holot Residency Center, or change the legal framework of a policy that the court said had a cumulative effect amounting to detention. The court also declared void the provision that allows the government to detain newly arrived “infiltrators” for a period of one year.
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