Israel should stop its plan to send tens of thousands of illegal African migrants back to Africa forcibly, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday, suggesting some could be resettled in Europe or other countries.
Israel said last Wednesday it would pay thousands of African nationals living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March.
The vast majority comes from Eritrea and Sudan and many say they fled war and persecution as well as economic hardship. Israel views them mostly as economic migrants.
The Israeli plan offers each African migrant a $3,500 payment from the Israeli government and a free ticket home or to "third countries," which rights groups identified as Rwanda and Uganda.
"We are again appealing to Israel to halt its policy of relocating Eritreans and Sudanese to sub-Saharan Africa," William Spindler, of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told a Geneva briefing.
"Official statements that the plans may eventually target families and those with pending asylum claims, or that asylum seekers might be taken to the airport in handcuffs, are particularly alarming," he said.
Some 27,000 Eritreans and 7,700 Sudanese live in Israel. Israeli authorities have granted refugee status to only 11 of them since 2009, Spindler said.
In Europe, Eritreans have a very high rate of recognition as refugees fleeing war or persecution, he said.
"So we would expect that among them, many would qualify for refugee status," he said.
"What we would like to see in Israel – and we are willing to help in that respect – is to find legal alternatives for these people, through resettlement in other countries."
Rwanda and Uganda both said last Friday they had not struck any deal to take in African migrants from Israel.
Over the past two years, the UNHCR has interviewed 80 Eritrean refugees or asylum seekers who arrived in Rome after a hazardous journey across Africa following their departure from Israel to Rwanda, Spindler said.
"Along the way, they suffered abuse, torture and extortion, before risking their lives once again by crossing the Mediterranean to Italy," he said.
Some migrants reportedly died en route to Libya, Spindler said. He said U.N. agencies are carrying out emergency evacuations of migrants from Libya, where slave-like conditions have been reported in detention centers.
