VOA标准英语2014--Israel Accused of Forcing Thousands of Asylum Seekers to Return Home

 

Israel Accused of Forcing Thousands of Asylum¹ Seekers to Return Home

JERUSALEM—

An international human rights group has accused the Israeli government of coercing² thousands of African asylum seekers to return home where, Human Rights Watch claims, they could face imprisonment³ and possible torture.

Some 2,000 African asylum seekers live at the Holot detention⁴ center in the southern Israeli desert. They can leave during the day but must report back three times a day.

Another 1,000 across the road at the Saharonim prison cannot leave. They are among more than 50,000 Africans, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, who arrived in Israel over the past eight years.

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday that these migrants are not allowed to work and only a handful have been granted asylum. The group’s Bill Van Esveld said the Israeli government wants the Africans to leave.

"There's been a series of laws put in place that basically gives people the choice between being able to stay in Israel but potentially in indefinite detention, or being sent back to the country they came from… We think this constitutes effective ‘refoulement,’ which is a refugee law term that means you're being basically forced back to a country where you face a well-founded fear of some kind of persecution,” said Van Esveld.

Some Israelis say the influx⁵ threatens the very nature of the Jewish state. The government built a fence along the Egyptian border to keep them out.

"We are determined⁶ to remove those who succeeded in entering before we closed the border. I want to make clear that these are not refugees. We are talking about illegal workers infiltrating⁷ and we are determined to bring them to justice," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sudanese who return risk 10-year prison terms for traveling to Israel.  And Eritreans face prison for evading⁸ mandatory⁹ military service. Nevertheless, nearly 7,000 have left. 

Van Esveld said the policy needs to change.

"Give these people a year-long, renewable protected status that allows them to work and that allows them to be here legally and not subject to arbitrary detention.  And make it renewable until such time as the situation in Eritrea and Sudan allows them to go," said Van Esveld.

Some Israelis do not want the Africans in their communities. But others support them, recalling their own past as refugees. 

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 coercing   

v.迫使做( coerce的现在分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• All of the children had atopic dermatis coercing at least 20% of their body surface area. 所有的患儿体表有超过20%的遗传性过敏症皮炎感染。 来自互联网
• I assured him that we had no intention of coercing Israel in response a Soviet threat. 我向他保证，我们无意强迫以色列对苏联的威胁做出反映。 来自互联网

3 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

8 evading   

逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• Segmentation of a project is one means of evading NEPA. 把某一工程进行分割，是回避《国家环境政策法》的一种手段。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Too many companies, she says, are evading the issue. 她说太多公司都在回避这个问题。

9 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。