Bikya Masr reported today about another case when Egypt’s border guards shot an African migrant to death as he attempted to cross the border to Israel. This is the 17th reported case of a migrant being shot to death by Egyptian soldiers since May 2009, and the second killing in just two weeks.
During 2008, according to Amnesty International, there have 28 killings on the border and 30 more cases of injury to migrants or refugees. In a recent report by the UN’s IRIN News, an Israeli migrant rights activist said that based on interviews with asylum seekers and IDF soldiers, she “strongly believes there are hundreds of unreported dead and wounded [at the border]“.
Migrants who suffer from racism, discrimination and poverty in Egypt attempt to cross to Israel, even at the risk of losing their lives, in the hope of having better living standards there. They pay smugglers up to $500 to get them across the 200km border between Israel and Sinai.
These shootings are a clear violation of international law, since law enforcement officials may use lethal force only as a proportional and necessary response to a threat to life. Those migrants and refugees, who are shot without carrying any weapons, do not pose any threat to the Egyptian guards.
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December 1, 2009
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by MideastYouth, Migrant Rights. Migrant Rights said: Egypt Kills Another African Migrant Attempting to Cross to Israel http://is.gd/592Eq #MigrantRights [...]
December 1, 2009
This is appalling. It is big news. Why doesn’t the BBC cover this story instead of (repeated) stories about Israeli settlers on the West Bank tearing branches off Palestinian olive trees?.
December 2, 2009
“Migrants who suffer from racism, discrimination and poverty in Egypt attempt to cross to Israel, even at the risk of losing their lives, in the hope of having better living standards there.”
Then they’re not legitimate refugees, just economic migrants. Israel has no obligation to take them.
December 3, 2009
Raphael, even if these were illegal economic migrants, shooting and killing them at the border is completely unjustified. Of course Israel has no ‘obligation’ to let these people in, but couldn’t they just have been arrested or turned away?
December 3, 2009
Raphael- I don’t understand how you can say that these people are not legitimate refugees. If a person’s passport and any other identification materials have been confiscated and they are physically, sexually, and emotionally abused in a foreign nation, and that does not put them in the category of being a refugee, then I wonder who you consider to be ‘real’ refugees. I’m thankful that you thinking that it is okay to kill someone who is seeking safety and peace doesn’t actually make it okay…
December 20, 2009
[...] border guards have killed at least 17 migrants since May 2009 who have attempted to cross to Israel. The killing of unarmed migrants that posed no [...]