Following the human rights organizations’ petition Deri canceled the deportation to DRC (Congo)

Today (7.3.19) the interior ministry responded to the human rights organizations’ (The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, HIAS, Assaf, Physicians for Human Rights– Israel and ARDC) petition: the minister of the interior decided to suspend the decision to end the group protection for citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) until further notice, which will depend on changes in the situation of Congo, as it was prior to the October 2018 decision to end their group protection . 

We are glad that the interior ministry accepted our demands. This announcement confirms that the decision to end the group protection for citizens of the DRC while the political situation and national security of the country are unstable was impetuous and dangerous. 

Many of the Congolese asylum seekers have been waiting for over a decade for their applications to be assessed; while the interior ministry refused to individually examine the applications, they are subjected to the possible threat of being deported to the country they fled. 

Inbar Barel and Meirav Ben-Zeev, the lawyers who drafted the petition say: “We acclaim the cancelation of the deportation to the Congo and the interior ministry’s acknowledgement that the fragile situation in the Congo doesn’t allow enforced repatriation. Yet, it is unfortunate that there was an initial need to file a petition in order to cancel an unfounded decision that clearly was imprudent and perilous. From now, we expect the interior ministry to do its role truly and examine the asylum applications of the Congolese community, some of which have been gathering dust on its desks for over 10 years.”