These African Refugees Hoped to Build New Lives in Israel. Instead, They're Stuck in Endless Legal Limbo.

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sophie brill

Jun 7, 2017

According to the Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel (ASSAF), Eritreans and Sudanese nationals, who comprise "90 percent of the asylum seeking population in Israel, receive relatively high recognition rates as refugees around the world (88 percent and 64 percent respectively)." However, Israel's current rate of refugee status recognition is a mere 0.2 percent. It has so far granted refugee status to only one Sudanese and a handful of Eritreans.

Pictured here is a group of inmates at the infamous Holot detention center in the Negev desert. Described as an "open prison.", detainees are allowed to leave, but must be back for the ten p.m. head count, or risk being transferred to a closed prison. Despite several challenges in Israeli courts, any single male asylum seeker under the age of sixty can be arbitrarily sent to Holot at any time.

Photography by Violeta Santos Moura

Read the full story here:Â http://narrative.ly/these-african-refugees-hoped-to-build-new-lives-in-israel-instead-theyre-stuck-in-endless-legal-limbo/

Sophie Brill
Photo Editor

Sophie Brill

Sophie Brill Photo Editor

Sophie Brill

Sophie Brill
Photo Editor