End Relations With Eritrea, Say Refugees

Leaders of a demonstration by Eritrean refugees in Israel have called on the international community to end relations with the country.

They claim that pressure to end the regime's persecution of its people is the only way to stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

The call comes ahead of a meeting in Brussels where EU states will discuss a proposed quota system that would apportion the number of asylum seekers each should accept.

Thousands of people fleeing African states, such as Eritrea, are thought to have drowned in recent months as they attempted to reach Italy and Greece by boat.

This week hundreds of Eritreans gathered outside the Eritrean embassy in Tel Aviv to condemn the regime from which they fled.

They accuse the government of operating a dictatorship and called for an end to its policy of indefinite military conscription.

One of the organisers of the demonstration, Dawit Demoz, who reached Israel five years ago, said discussions over migrant quotas or military action against people traffickers running deadly boat operations in the Mediterranean, would be pointless unless EU states cut ties with the Eritrean government and put pressure on it to change.

He said: "They can cut the smuggling network, they can do whatever, but since we're still suffering in Eritrea, we will never stop fleeing Eritrea - since the main cause is in Eritrea, and that's the Eritrean regime, Eritrea will continue being the source of refugees until the situation changes."

Another leader, Gherbrehiwot Meles, added: "Eritrean people are suffering all over the world - being drowned in the Mediterranean, being killed by ISIS in Libya, suffering in the Sinai and here in Israel.

"The main cause is the dictatorship in Eritrea - they are persecuting the people."

The UK government has listed Eritrea as a "country of concern" as a result of its human rights record, but like Israel and many European countries, it maintains diplomatic relations.

Faced with indefinite detention in desert camps in Southern Israel if asylum applications are rejected, many Eritreans have opted to leave for third countries, such as Rwanda and Uganda, with the aim of embarking on the perilous journey to Europe by boat instead.

The Israeli founder of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Sigal Rozen, said the treatment of the more than 45,000 African refugees currently in Israel remains deeply flawed, and condemned politicians for referring to them as "infiltrators".

"When you say 'infiltrator' in Hebrew the average Israeli is thinking of a person that has come to hurt us, but they just want democracy in their own country so they can go back to it," said Mrs Rozen.

"They are not allowed to work legally, they receive no social rights, Israel does not examine their asylum requests.

"The few they started to check this year have all been rejected.

"It is amazing how all over the world recognition rates are 84.5% - a very high recognition rate - but in Israel there are only four Eritreans recognised as refugees."