UN warns Israel on new refugee law

Open-ended detention periods for refugees would contradict human rights norms, UN’s refugee agency says of Israel’s new law passed last month. The UN Relief Agency UNHCR warned Israel on Friday over open-ended detention of refugees. Under the new legislation passed last month, illegal immigrants without valid visas can be detained indefinitely. “Indefinite detention certainly would be at odds with human rights norms,” said Adrian Edwards, UNHCR spokesperson. The United Nations last year called on Israel to change the refugee law, Edwards noted, adding that the organization is prepared to support refugees in exercising their legal rights. African nationals in Israel have been protesting the new law over the last week. It allows sending refugees to a desert prison and since its ratification over 300 hundred people have already been detained, British daily The Guardian reports. Mostly Sudanese and Eritrean, nearly 53,000 refugees are currently in Israel according to the UNHCR.