1,600 Asylum Requests Have Been Reopened

A wonderful achievement for asylum seekers in Israel!

We were informed that the asylum requests of 1,600 Eritreans living in Israel had been reopened following a petition we filed to the Appeal Court together with HIAS Israel.

All of those asylum seekers had filed asylum requests that in the past were rejected out of hand due to the "one year limit.” The court revoked this restriction, stating that it was unreasonable. At the beginning of 2018, in partnership with HIAS in Israel, we petitioned against the Ministry of Interior, stating that restrictions were imposed on the ability of the refused to reopen their asylum requests. Following our petition, the court determined that when those refused people go to the Ministry of Migration to renew their visas, each one of them will be invited to an asylum interview.

Following a request we sent based on the Freedom of Information Law, we were informed that 1,600 asylum requests have been reopened. This development means that each of the 1,600 Eritreans have officially returned to be an asylum seeker, a temporary legal status that most of the Eritrean community in Israel holds.

Israel now has the responsibility to examine their asylum requests. Some people have been waiting for this review for more than a decade. We hope it will be done soon.