Burmese Former Political Prisoner Dies in Tel Aviv
The Burmese national was an asylum seeker living in Tel Aviv. A look at the current state of affairs in regards to
asylum seekers and refugees in Israel.
31 May 2005??
On Wednesday night, 18 May 2005, H., an asylum seeker from Burma, died when he fell from a roof in downtown Tel-Aviv in
what seems to have been a suicide. He was a former political prisoner and a mental patient, probably suffering from the
mistreatment he endured in a Burmese prison.
Recently, H. came to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel's Open Clinic in Tel Aviv and started treatment; however, he did
not share his full story or mental problem with the volunteers, GP or the psychiatrist.
A question remains: had the state of Israel offered proper protection to asylum seekers, including specialist trauma
screening and treatment, could H.’s life have been saved?
Asylum seekers in Israel number, at most, a few thousand. This is a very small number compared to that of western
countries or to the number of documented and undocumented migrant workers in Israel. In spite of the relatively small
number and Israel's historical obligation to the refugee convention, framed as a result of World War II, the state fails
to supply basic protection to asylum seekers. The procedure for examining their application does not amount to basic
standards of fairness.
Asylum seekers who pass the initial screening process, are given the right to work, but no social services, no health
services, and nothing in terms of social assistance.
The ones who suffer the most are of course the weakest: the sick, the old, deserted minors, people with no working
ability or devoid of community ties and trauma and torture victims.
We will probably never know whether H. could have been saved had proper health protection been given by the state.
Other trauma victims remain. They come to our small and insufficiently equipped clinic have a long wait for a volunteer
and eventually they have to buy the sometimes costly medicines themselves, if they have the money. If they cannot afford
the medicine, they simply will not have it.
Cancer and HIV/AIDS patients are also at risk. Their medical situation can deteriorate and they might die untreated
while waiting for the system to decide on their case, unless they arrive at the hospital at the final, sometimes too
late, stage of "immediate life endangering emergency", according to the Israeli law.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel urges the state of Israel to stand up to its commitment and obligations to asylum
seekers and refugees. These obligations are not only rooted in law but also in the moral codes that society must follow.
Asylum seekers and refugees, in many cases, are amongst the most weak and vulnerable groups. The state and society have
the duty to protect them.
ENDS