Crónicas capitolinas desde Roma

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The Knesset approves an illegal migrants' bill. A law that flies in the face of the Geneva Convention on Refugees

by Alfred Breitman - EveryOne Group

Rome, January 11th, 2012

The illegal migrants' bill approved in Israel is a total violation of the Geneva Convention on refugees, as it transforms them into criminals. The amendment to the 1954 law will aggravate the terms of treatment for the sub-Saharan refugees that enter Israel. It also allows authorities to arrest and hold migrants for a period of up to three years, and foresees up to 15 years' imprisonment for human rights defenders who - in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - help the refugees who succeed in reaching Israel. We know a number of these Israeli activists, who are extraordinary humanitarian workers. They prevent persecuted citizens becoming the victims of true tragedies, refugees whom the Israeli authorities now consider criminals. We consider this bill a dramatic and unacceptable legal measure, as it was not approved by a fundamentalist regime, but by a democratic country. We will be appealing to the United Nations and the EU authorities to take measures against this unconstitutional law.

Knesset approves illegal migrants' bill

by Moran Azulay

January 11, 2012. Bill which will allow authorities to hold illegal migrants for up to three years without trial, jail those assisting illegal migrants for up to 15 years passes second, third readings

The illegal migrants bill was approved in the Knesset Plenum on Monday night in its second and third readings. The amendment to the 1954 law from will aggravate the terms of treatment towards illegal migrants and refugees that enter Israel illegally, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan.

 The vote was carried 37 to eight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MKs from the Kadima party voted in favor of the bill. 

According to the new amendment, the law, which was originally meant to deal with terrorists, will also be applied to asylum seekers. It also allows authorities to arrest and hold illegal migrants in a holding facility for a period of up to three years. 

Moreover, anyone who assists illegal migrants while they are in Israel could be thrown into prison for a period of up to 15 years. The Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee filed a reservation to the bill and asked that an additional clause will be added to the law stating the law will only be applied to Israelis who aid illegal migrants that carry out criminal acts.  The Justice Minster requested that the reservation be removed but the cabinet later removed their opposition to the clause and it was approved.  The illegal migrants' bill has received a great deal of criticism from the Internal Affairs Committee's legal advisors and many claim the law is unconstitutional. The Knesset's Legal Advisor Eyal Yinon claimed that "the possibility of holding illegal migrants in custody for a period of three years without a trial is extremely irregular." 
Yinon noted that following negotiations he held with cabinet representatives it was decided that the border control commissioner would be able to release illegal migrants in extreme cases after three years, but Yinon believes that the clause is not satisfactory as release after three years should be the general rule and not the exception.

Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin spoke out during the Knesset's deliberations and told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that approving the bill could have major consequences and would attract major global criticism.

"You'll end up in Geneva," he said adding, "We can't approve everything, we will have to face the world."


Photo by Amit Magal: Saharonim prison where migrants are held 
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EveryOne Group
+39 393 4010237:: +39 3313585406: +39 334 3449180
www.everyonegroup.com: info@everyonegroup.com

 

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Human Trafficking: a desperate appeal from the Sinai

Rome, January 2nd, 2011. The New Year starts with a desperate plea that Everyone Group is passing on to the United Nations, the institutions of the European Union, the Egyptian authorities and the Palestinian territories (where the leaders of the trafficking in human beings and organs reside). A group of young hostages has launched a tragic appeal for help from northern Sinai, near the Israeli border. "We have been beaten, tortured, humiliated in the most atrocious fashion. We have now received an ultimatum from our persecutors: if our families do not pay $ 33,000 per head within 24 hours, we will be sold to clandestine clinics that traffic in human organs. We are calling on the civilized countries, religious people who abhor these atrocities, the United Nations and the European Union not to abandon us. If we had been Europeans or Americans, would you have left us in this terrible condition? We are young men and women who have fled from a country that persecuted us. 

Help us, in the name of God and humanity. 

Samuel, Oktubal, Nathaniel, Filmon, Ermias,Tesfit, Ephrem, Mussie, Frwi Mussie, Yohannes, Amanuel, Awet, Kiru". 

EveryOne Group
+39 393 4010237:: +39 3313585406: +39 334 3449180
www.everyonegroup.com: info@everyonegroup.com

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Norway: EveryOne Group launches a campaign to save Azad Hassan Rasol, a young homosexual man, from deportation back to Iraq

Rome, December 29th, 2011. The High Court of Oslo has turned down the application for political asylum presented by Azad Assan Rasol, a 33 year old Iraqi gay man who lives in Norway with his partner. According to the High Court, in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq, gay people are not murdered, as they are in the rest of the country, but are hit by less severe penalties. The court, therefore, has invited the young homosexual not to publicly express his sexual orientation once he is deported: thus, according to the judges, he will avoid any form of persecution."Norway has had a commendable past in the field of human rights," say Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Piccciau, co-presidents of EveryOne Group, "but for some years the Scandinavian nation has been committing serious violations against LGBT people seeking political asylum after fleeing from countries where gays and lesbians are persecuted and often killed. The Norwegian Government and the judiciary have justified the deportations by saying that if a gay person acts with discretion the risks are avoided. This, however, is not true, because whilst it is true that the Iraqi government has decriminalized homosexuality, gays are still being persecuted according to Islamic laws, and they are often arrested following complaints from relatives or neighbours, despite not publicly manifesting their sexual orientation". EveryOne Group demonstrates the severe persecution of gays underway in Iraq, citing the reports from Iraqi LGBT, a human rights organization for gays and lesbians based in London, which document assaults, cases of torture and murders of gay men that have occurred both in the Kurdish and Sunni communities. "At least 600 homosexuals have been attacked and murdered since 2003," says EveryOne, "often after cruel torture, such as one practice that foresees that a gay man's anus is glued up with a powerful glue. After this he is given a laxative, which leads to an extremely painful death. The international LGBT rights organizations now consider Iraq as one of the places where the persecution of gays and lesbians is most widespread and brutal". EveryOne Group, which, due to its humanitarian activities, is well aware of the danger that Azad Hassan Rasol would face if deported back to Iraq, has launched an urgent appeal to King Harald V of Norway, the Government of Oslo, the Committee of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, asking the Norwegian Government (based on the evidence of the persecution of gays in Iraq) to go back on its decision, to honour the Geneva Convention on Refugees, and grant Azad Hassan Rasol political asylum. "We have also sent an urgent appeal to the UN High Commissioners for Refugees and Human Rights and the EU Commissioner for Human Rights to prevent the deportation and – if the hostile attitude towards the young man and the violation of his right to freedom and life should be maintained by the Norwegian authorities - to start procedures to ensure that the young man is taken in by another EU country, in a humanitarian exception to the Dublin Convention. In any case, it is vital that Azad Hassan Rasol is not deported back to a destiny of humiliation, suffering, marginalization, violence and probable death in Iraq. Iraq has, in fact, one the highest number of reported cases of persecution and summary executions of LGBT people: one of the most tragic in the contemporary world".

These organizations have already joined the campaign:
EveryOne Group, Amnesty International France, Iraqi LGBT, Fondazione Massimo Consoli, Sindacato Europeo dei Lavoratori, GaiaItalia.com, Cinemagay.it, Alba Montori, Gaynews.it, Gayroma, Rete Evengelica Fede e Omosessualità, Associazione Sharazade, Watching The Sky

See links:

http://www.irispress.it/Iris/page.asp?VisImg=S&Art=128201&Cat=1&I=null&IdTipo=_

0&TitoloBlocco=Esteri&Codi_Cate_Arti=16
http://refoitalia.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/salviamo-l’attivista-gay-iracheno-anwar-basim-saleh/
http://fondazionemassimoconsoli.blogspot.com/
http://www.gaiaitalia.com/diritti-umani/1118-norvegia-rifiutano-la-domanda-dasilo-a-gay-iracheno.html
http://www.gaynews.it/articoli/Mondo/87611/Norvegia-campagna-Everyone-per-salvare-giovane-iracheno-dalla-deportazione.html
http://www.gay.net/hot_topics/2009/04/iraqis-killed-for-being-gay-is-this-our-fault.html?page=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Iraq
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200701/ali-hili-gay-iraqi-spy
http://news.change.org/stories/us-finally-condemns-anti-lgbt-violence-in-iraq
http://www.queerblog.it/post/13489/la-norvegia-rimanda-in-iraq-un-rifugiato-gay
http://www.lettera43.it/attualita/35179/gay-iracheno-rischia-la-vita-se-rimpatriato.htm

EveryOne Group
+39 393 4010237:: +39 3313585406: +39 334 3449180
www.everyonegroup.com: info@everyonegroup.com