Canada Israel Committee (CIC), Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) and JIAS Canada were instrumental in bringing two Israeli women to speak at the Canadian Council for Refugees International Refugee Rights Conference.  Below are their thoughts and impressions. 

Anat Ben Dor (left) with Leah Biteolin
Photograph courtesy Carolyn Blackman
 

Anat Ben Dor

 Landing at Toronto airport, I was greeted by a small scarfed woman "Hello" she said "I am Nasheed from Tehran". I presented my self awkwardly, fearing that when she hears I am from Israel, she would withdraw her extended hand. But it was soon apparent that Nasheed and I had more pressing issues to talk about: Refugees. We were both heading to the first international convention on refugee rights, hosted by the Canadian Council for Refugees. Despite our fatigue (Nasheed had just flown 28 hours to get from Tehran to Toronto) we spent the half hour trip to York university campus learning about each other’s work. Nasheed is working in an Iranian refugee aid organization, which assists Afghan and Iraqi refugees, especially women; she had also been in both countries.  It was a unique opportunity for me to learn about human rights work done in Iran. Nasheed was surprised to find out that Israel accepted refugees. 

450 delegates from all over the world gathered for the three days conference held in Toronto in mid-June. Meetings, such as my meeting with Nasheed, occurred all the time. The convention was designed to bring together advocates and activists of non-governmental organizations working with refugees all over the world. Every issue was presented by the convention participants and this offered an international and very critical out look on the various issues discussed. In the two hour session in which I participated seven different systems for the determination of refugee status were presented and analyzed: Canada, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Bulgaria, Korea and … Israel.  

The participation of an Israeli in such a discussion is not trivial. Historically Israel devoted all its resources to the absorption of Jewish immigrants and their families (many of them were indeed refugees). Little attention was given to non-Jewish refugees. The continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the unresolved question of the Palestinian refugees may have also hindered the establishment of an Israeli asylum system. Very few people (in Israel and abroad) are aware of the fact that Israel has established (in 2002) an asylum system and is accepting refugees from all over the world. The Israeli system is relatively small; approximately a thousand applications for asylum are submitted in Israel every year. Most of the applicants come from African countries, but some arrive from other places as far as Myanmar or Columbia.  Very few of the applicants are actually recognized as refugees (in 2004 Israel granted asylum to 12 people, in 2005 to 9 people). The young Israeli asylum system in still very informal, and lacks various basic safeguards (for example the right to legal representation throughout the process is denied, there is no independent appeal mechanism, most of the applicants are rejected in 'accelerated procedures'), but its establishment is an important step towards Israeli fulfillment of its international obligations. 

The Refugee Rights Clinic at the Tel Aviv University, where I work, is the only legal human rights program in Israel dedicated solely to the rights of refugees. The program is part of the Buchmann Law Faculty and teaches twenty law students per year. The students are given the opportunity to practise this unique field of law, closely supervised by lawyers. They meet the clients, interview them and prepare their asylum applications. During the last year, the Clinic was involved in the protection of the rights of over 200 Sudanese refugees who have crossed the Israel-Egypt border and sought asylum in Israel. Some of them escaped the recent genocide in Darfur, others are southern Sudanese who have escaped some years ago to Egypt because of the civil war, and others suffered persecution by the government. The refugees surrender themselves at the border and are immediately detained (save women and children) for illegal entry, and are then committed to indefinite detention (some of them for over a year).  

The participation in the Canadian Council for Refugees convention was a rare opportunity to meet refugee experts from all over the world, to share information and strategies and to learn that many of the problems we face are not unique to Israel. It was also an opportunity to promote Israel as a democracy. I am grateful for the contribution of JIAS-Canada and CIJA, which made this experience possible.  

Anat Ben-Dor is an Attorney in the Refugee Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University

Leah Biteolin 

Participating in the Canadian Council for Refugees’ International Conference was one of the most important and exciting events I have been involved with.  During the three days of the conference delegates from 43 countries gathered to discuss issues related to immigrants worldwide and share experiences.

I participated in a workshop on “Integrating Refugees and Immigrants into their New Country”.  I shared my own immigration story with the participants and told them about the efforts that the State of Israel is making to successfully integrate refugees and immigrants.  I also pointed out what Israel’s NGO’s are doing for these people, describing many different projects and programs.

During the conference I had an opportunity to develop friendships with a number of participants who were most surprised to hear that I am from Israel.  This made me even more proud to be an Israeli.

I met participants from countries like Liberia, Tahiti, Panama, Poland, Somalia and others who had never in their life met an Israeli.  The first question they asked was what it is like to be a resident of Israel.  They were really surprised to hear that it is no different from being a resident of another country.  For me, building these relationships was one of the most important achievements of the conference.  It gave me the opportunity to let others know things about Israel that they don’t usually hear or see.  I am extremely happy that the first time those participants met an Israeli, it was someone like me who could help them think positively about Israel.

I would like to thank JIAS Canada and the Canada Israel Committee for giving me the opportunity to be part of a conference like that, where I could make a significant contribution to the positive image of Israeli. 

Leah Biteolin is an Ethopian Jew who lives in Israel and works for the Jewish Agency 

JIAS Canada is a founding member of the Canadian Council for Refugees.