UN Urges Israel to Find Solutions to Issue of African Migrants

African migrants protest outside Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
African migrants protest outside Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
TT

UN Urges Israel to Find Solutions to Issue of African Migrants

African migrants protest outside Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
African migrants protest outside Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged Israel on Tuesday to halt plans to forcibly return tens of thousands of migrants to Africa.

Last Wednesday, Israel said it would pay money to thousands of illegal African migrants to leave, and threatened them with prison if they were caught after the end of March, AFP reported.

The plan is targeting an estimated 38,000 people, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, and offers the migrants $3,500 and a plane ticket if they leave by March.

AFP quoted UNHCR spokesman William Spindler as telling reporters in Geneva that the Israeli program was not “coherent” and “has been implemented not in a very transparent manner.”

“UNHCR is again appealing to Israel to halt its policy of relocating Eritreans and Sudanese to sub-Saharan Africa,” the agency said in a statement.

Spindler called on Israel to find alternative solutions to the problem, stressing that the UN was ready to help with formal resettlement through official channels.

He warned that the plans might ultimately target families and individuals whose applications for asylum have not been decided, or that asylum seekers might be taken to the airport handcuffed.

Spindler added that around 27,000 Eritreans and 7,700 Sudanese were living in Israel, but the authorities said they have granted asylum to only 11 of them since 2009.

He explained that over the past two years, UNHCR has interviewed 80 Eritrean refugees or asylum seekers in Rome, who arrived in Italy after a risky trip across Africa after leaving Israel for Rwanda.

“They suffered from abuse, torture and extortion all the way, before they risked their lives once again to cross the Mediterranean into Italy,” he said.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.