Israel set to deport hundreds of Congolese asylum seekers
Israel set to deport hundreds of Congolese asylum seekers
10/09/2018 8:51:28 AM
UPDATED ON 10/09/2018 8:51:38 AM
Written by i24NEWS
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The Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Authority announced on Tuesday that asylum seekers in Israel who are citizens of the Democratic Republic have been given 90 days to leave the country.
There are hundreds of Congolese asylum seekers residing in Israel. Following a report from Israel’s Foreign Ministry concluding it would be safe to send Congolese asylum seekers back to Congo, Interior Minister Arye Dery made a policy change on the matter, thus allowing for deportation.
Haaretz cited officials from the Population and Immigration Ministry saying that Congolese asylum seekers should start preparing to go back to Congo.
The ministry said that it will take steps to deport those who don’t comply with the order.
“First of all, the announcement was posted on the Population Authority website in the languages relevant to the target population and as far as we know is seen by thousands of users and is certainly not 'confidential.'
It is an official channel of communications and is therefore used to release announcements to the public," a statement from the ministry said.
"We wish to make clear that asylum requests from Congolese are examined on an individual basis, as are all asylum requests and this has no connection with the lifting of group protection. Beyond that, the decision [to lift the group protection] is based on a professional opinion carried out by the Foreign Ministry and any claim to the contrary is baseless," the statement concluded.
The situation in Congo is far from secure with armed groups fighting each other while ebola still hasn’t been contained.
According to the World Health Organization director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, the ebola outbreak is at a “critical point.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that at least 235 people have been killed in the north eastern city of Beni, an area where rebels have fought government forces.
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