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For a 13th consecutive year, the Israel government enforced a generalized travel ban on Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip and sharply restricted the entry and exit of goods. These restrictions, not based on an individualized assessment of security risk, robbed with rare exceptions the 2 million Palestinians living there of their right to freedom of movement, limited their access to electricity and water, and devastated the economy.

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Israeli authorities in 2020 systematically repressed and discriminated against Palestinians in ways that far exceeded the security justifications they often provided.

For a 13th consecutive year, the government enforced a generalized travel ban on Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip and sharply restricted the entry and exit of goods. These restrictions, not based on an individualized assessment of security risk, robbed with rare exceptions the 2 million Palestinians living there of their right to freedom of movement, limited their access to electricity and water, and devastated the economy. Eighty percent of Gaza's residents depend on humanitarian aid.

Israeli authorities also facilitated the further transfer of Israeli citizens into settlements in the occupied West Bank, a war crime. The Israeli group Peace Now said that Israeli officials in 2020 advanced plans for more housing units in West Bank settlements, 12,159 as of October 15, more than in any other year since it began tracking these statistics in 2012.

According to the UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of October 19, 2020, Israeli authorities demolished 568 Palestinian homes and other structures in the West Bank this year, including in East Jerusalem, displacing 759 people. Most buildings were demolished for lacking Israeli building permits, which are virtually impossible to obtain. As the Covid-19 pandemic spread between March and August, Israel averaged its highest home demolition rate in four years, OCHA found. On November 3, Israeli authorities razed the homes of most residents of the Palestinian community of Khirbet Humsah in the Jordan Valley for being in an area it designated as a "firing zone," displacing 73 people, 41 of them children.

The coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White parties that led to the formation of an Israeli government in May, after three rounds of elections in the preceding year, established a process to bring annexation of additional parts of the West Bank for approval. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in August that Israel would delay the move following an agreement to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, but that "there is no change to my plan to extend sovereignty" over the West Bank.
Both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas authorities in Gaza detained opponents and critics for their peaceful expression and tortured some in their custody. The Palestinian statutory watchdog, Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), received 269 complaints of arbitrary arrests, 147 against the PA and 122 by Hamas; 90 complaints of torture and ill-treatment, 40 against the PA and 50 against Hamas, and 62 complaints against the PA of detention without trial or charge pursuant to orders from a regional governor between January and September 2020. The number of complaints decreased compared to previous years, which the ICHR attributes primarily to the fewer prison visits it conducted amid the pandemic.

Gaza Strip

Although fighting between Israel and Palestinian armed groups decreased compared to previous years, Israeli authorities maintained their closure of Gaza, alongside restrictions Egypt maintains on its border. Palestinian armed groups, as of October 21, fired 187 unguided rockets or mortar shells towards Israeli population centers in 2020, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, inherently indiscriminate attacks that amount to war crimes.

Incendiary balloons launched into Israel by Palestinians in Gaza prompted Israeli authorities in August in retaliation to limit the entry into Gaza of goods, including food and medicine, to block access to Gaza's territorial waters for Palestinian fishermen and to slash fuel imports to Gaza's power plant, further reducing the already limited supply of electricity for almost three weeks. These measures, targeting Gaza's general civilian population, amount to unlawful collective punishment.

In August, Gaza recorded its first cases of community transmission of coronavirus. Hamas authorities, which since March had required returning residents to spend 21 days in quarantine at centers they oversee, imposed a 14-day lockdown and other restrictive measures. As of October 19, Gaza's Health Ministry had recorded 4,722 Covid-19 cases and 28 deaths, most of them since August.

Israeli Closure

Israel restricted the ability of most Gaza residents to travel through the Erez Crossing, the sole passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel through which Palestinians travel to the West Bank and abroad. A generalized travel ban applies to all Palestinians except those whom Israeli authorities deem as presenting "exceptional humanitarian circumstances," mostly those needing vital medical treatment and their companions, as well as prominent business people.

During January and February, an average of 778 Palestinians in Gaza exited via Erez each day, a fraction of the daily average of more than 24,000 before the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000, according to the Israeli rights group, Gisha. After Israel tightened the closure amid the pandemic, that figure plummeted between April and September to about nine people per day.

In May, the PA suspended security and administrative coordination with Israel, including the issuance of travel permits, in response to Israel's annexation plans. This move left Gaza residents with no clear way to apply for permits, since Israeli authorities do not have a formal physical presence inside Gaza and did not create alternative mechanisms to accept applications directly. Several organizations in June began applying on behalf of Palestinians with scheduled appointments for urgent medical care outside Gaza and the World Health Organization (WHO) took on the coordination role in September. According to data received by the WHO, Israel denied or failed to respond in a timely manner to 54 percent of such applications in June. In November, the PA said that it would resume security and administrative coordination with Israel.

Gaza's exports between January and September, mostly destined for the West Bank and Israel, averaged 256 truckloads per month, compared to the monthly average of 1,064 truckloads prior to the June 2007 tightening of the closure, according to Gisha. Israel also sharply restricted and often prohibited the entry of what they deem "dual-use" materials, items that could be used for military purposes. The list included X-ray and communications equipment, construction materials, spare parts and batteries for assistive devices used by people with disabilities, and other vital civilian items.

Families in Gaza on average received slightly more than 12 hours of electricity a day during the first nine months of 2020, according to OCHA. Chronic prolonged power outages encumber everyday life, in particular for people with disabilities who rely on light to communicate using sign language or equipment powered by electricity, such as elevators or electric wheelchairs, to move. More than 96 percent of groundwater in Gaza is "unfit for human consumption," OCHA found. According to the WHO, 47 percent of what it deems to be "essential" medicines were at zero stock level (less than one month's supply) at Gaza's Central Drug Store at the end of September.

Egypt also sharply restricted the movement of people and goods at its Rafah crossing with Gaza, including restricting entry to those who do not have a Palestinian ID because Israel did not include them in the population registry they control. In the first nine months of 2020, an average of 4,767 Palestinians crossed monthly in both directions, less than the monthly average of 12,172 in 2019 and over 40,000 before the 2013 military coup in Egypt, according to Gisha.

Hamas and Palestinian Armed Groups in Gaza

Hamas authorities provided no information about two Israeli civilians with psychosocial disabilities, Avera Mangistu and Hisham al-Sayed, whom they have apparently held in violation of international law for more than five years after they entered Gaza.

In April, Hamas authorities detained seven activists for participating in a video chat where they answered questions from Israeli civilians about life in Gaza. Two were detained for more than six months and three were convicted under military law of "weakening the revolutionary spirit."

Hamas authorities carried out no executions in 2020; they had carried out 25, following trials marred with due process violations, since they took control in Gaza in June 2007. Courts in Gaza had, as of November 2, sentenced 145 people to death in that time, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

A British Mandate-era law still in force in Gaza punishes "unnatural intercourse" of a sexual nature, understood to include same-sex relationships, with up to 10 years in prison, although Human Rights Watch has not documented detentions for same-sex conduct.

West Bank

Israeli Use of Force & Detentions

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli security forces killed 20 Palestinians and wounded at least 2,001 as of October 5, according to OCHA, including those alleged to have attacked Israelis, but also those uninvolved in violence.

On May 30, Israeli border police in Jerusalem's Old City fatally shot an unarmed 32-year-old Palestinian man with autism, Eyad al-Hallaq, after he reportedly fled when they asked him to stop. According to what an officer on the scene reportedly told Israeli investigators, police shot him in a "closed space" where he did not "endanger" anyone. In October, authorities indicated that they will likely charge the officer who shot al-Hallaq with reckless homicide, pending a pretrial hearing.

On June 23, border police shot and killed, apparently unlawfully, 26-year-old Ahmed Erekat after his car crashed into a checkpoint and he exited the vehicle in circumstances where he did not appear to pose an imminent threat to life. Authorities characterized the incident as a car-ramming attack; his family said it was an accident.

Israeli authorities have rarely held accountable security forces who used excessive force or settlers who attacked Palestinians.

Settler violence against Palestinians during the first five months of 2020 remained at 2019 levels, a marked increase from prior years, OCHA f ound. Settlers killed one Palestinian civilian, wounded 103, and caused property damage in 136 incidents as of October 5, according to OCHA.

Palestinian attackers killed one Israeli soldier and wounded at least 28 Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank, as of September 22.

Israeli authorities in September said they would continue withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed in what they consider security incidents primarily as leverage to secure Hamas's release of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers presumed killed in 2014 hostilities. Israel held, as of September, the bodies of 67 Palestinians killed since 2015, according to the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center.

In the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, Israeli forces arrested 850 Palestinians between April 2019 and April 2020, according to the Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, as part of an "ongoing campaign of abuse" against its residents.

In April, Israeli police shut down a coronavirus testing center set up by residents in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on the grounds that it operated with PA assistance.

Israeli authorities closely monitor online speech by Palestinians, in part relying on predictive algorithms to determine whom to target, and have detained Palestinians based on social media posts and other expressive activity.

As of August 31, according to Israeli Prison Services figures, Israel held 4,207 Palestinians in custody for "security" offenses, including 153 children, many for throwing stones, and 355 in administrative detention without formal charges or trial and based on secret evidence.

While applying Israeli civil law to settlers, Israeli authorities govern West Bank Palestinians, excluding Jerusalem residents, under harsh military law. In so doing, they deny them basic due process and try them in military courts with a near-100 percent conviction rate. Israel incarcerates many Palestinians from the OPT inside Israel, complicating family visits and violating international humanitarian law's prohibition against their transfer outside occupied territory.

Settlements & Home Demolitions

Israel allocated additional confiscated Palestinian land to unlawful settlements and provided security, infrastructure, and services for more than 647,000 settlers residing in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In June, Israel's Supreme Court struck down a law allowing authorities to retroactively expropriate land on which settlements had been built but that Israel acknowledged to be privately owned by Palestinians. In its justification, however, the court cited "less harmful tools" that could have the same effect, including a military order that upholds land deals when authorities reasonably believed at the time of sale that the land was not privately owned, effectively approving the unlawful expropriations.

Jerusalem courts in several cases ordered the eviction of Palestinian families from homes in which they had lived for decades in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan largely based on discriminatory laws that favor claims that the land belonged to Jewish owners before 1948 or that allow the state to take over land as "absentee property."

The difficulty in obtaining Israeli building permits in East Jerusalem and the 60 percent of the West Bank under Israel's exclusive control (Area C) has driven Palestinians to construct housing, schools, and business structures that are at constant risk of demolition or confiscation for being unauthorized. OCHA considered, as of April 2020, 46 Palestinian West Bank communities to be at " high risk of forcible transfer " due to coercive Israeli policies. International law prohibits an occupying power from destroying property unless "absolutely necessary" for "military operations."

Freedom of Movement for Palestinians

Israel continued to enforce its permit regime requiring Palestinian ID holders with rare exceptions to apply for time-limited permits from the Israeli army to enter large parts of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. B'Tselem describes this as "an arbitrary, entirely non-transparent bureaucratic system" where "many applications are denied without explanation, with no real avenue for appeal." Israeli authorities, as of June, maintained nearly 600 checkpoints and other permanent obstacles within the West Bank, in addition to nearly 1,500 ad-hoc "flying" checkpoints erected between April 2019 and March 2020, according to OCHA. Israeli forces routinely turn away or humiliate and delay Palestinians at checkpoints without explanation.

The separation barrier, which Israel said it built for security reasons but 85 percent of which falls within the West Bank rather than along the Green Line separating Israeli from Palestinian territory, cuts off thousands of Palestinians from their agricultural lands. It also isolates 11,000 Palestinians who live on the western side of the barrier but are not allowed to travel to Israel and whose ability to cross the barrier to access their property and basic services is highly restricted.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank

As of October 21, the PA reported 43,308 Covid-19 cases and 399 deaths since the outbreak began in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem. While at times imposing restrictions across the parts of the West Bank where it manages affairs, it has largely relied on localized lockdowns of areas that experience a surge in cases.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh pledged in July 2019 to end arbitrary arrests. In June, PA forces detained journalist Sami al-Sai for three weeks over suspicions that he administered a Facebook page that had posted information about PA corruption. PA forces in July arrested about 20 activists in Ramallah heading to a protest about PA corruption, detaining them for more than a week, and prosecuting them on charges of gathering illegally and violating restrictive Covid-19 measures.

PA personal status laws discriminated against women, including in relation to marriage, divorce, and decisions relating to custody of children and inheritance. Women's rights groups documented an increase in reports of domestic violence during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. However, Palestine has no comprehensive domestic violence law. The PA is considering a draft family protection law, but women's rights groups have raised concern that it does not go far enough to prevent abuse and protect survivors.

Israel

Israel had registered 306,649 Covid-19 cases and 2,278 deaths, including in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements, as of October 21. Israel instituted lockdowns between late March and early May, and again between late September and mid-October. To track Covid-19, Israeli authorities authorized Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, to collect from telecommunications providers, beginning in March, vast amounts of location-tracking data from the cellphones of ordinary Israelis without their consent. The Knesset in July authorized the surveillance for six months, following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in April that the government must bring the program under legislation.

In June, the Knesset renewed a temporary order in place since 2003 that bars, with few exceptions, granting long-term legal status or residency inside Israel to Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who marry Israeli citizens or residents, in many cases forcing the separation of families.

Thousands of Israelis participated in weekly demonstrations beginning in June, primarily against the government's handling of Covid-19 and corruption charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israeli police forcibly dispersed several demonstrations and beat and arrested scores of protesters. The Israeli group Human Rights Defenders Fund said that between July 14 and 26 in Jerusalem alone it provided legal counsel to more than 150 demonstrators who had been detained.

Israeli authorities continued to systematically deny asylum claims of the roughly 32,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in the country. To pressure them to leave, the government tries to make their lives " miserable," in the words of Israel's interior minister in 2012, through restrictions on movement, work permits, and access to health care. The Supreme Court in April struck down a law that permitted confiscation of a portion of their salaries.

Key International Actors

The United States in January presented a plan that purports to offer a two-state solution but envisions permanent Israeli domination over large swaths of the West Bank and formal annexation of settlements, the Jordan Valley, and other parts of Area C, while setting conditions that would make the realization of a Palestinian state nearly impossible. In June, members of the US Congress raised concerns about annexation in letters to Prime Minister Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

In response to the US plan, 27 European Union member states, including Germany and France, called for ensuring equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis. Over the year, the EU repeatedly urged Israel to abandon annexation plans and halt settlement construction, highlighting their illegality under international humanitarian law; however, strong divisions among EU member states have so far frustrated attempts to adopt punitive EU measures in response to Israel's persistent and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

In February, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released the long-awaited database of businesses that have enabled or profited from settlements, listing 112 businesses.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office concluded its preliminary examination of the Palestine situation in December 2019 and determined that all the necessary criteria to proceed with a formal investigation of alleged serious crimes by Israelis and Palestinians had been met. However, it requested guidance from the court's judges on the ICC's territorial jurisdiction before commencing a probe. At time of writing, a decision was pending.

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World Report 2021: Rights Trends in Israel and Palestine

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Israeli authorities in 2020 systematically repressed and discriminated against Palestinians in ways that far exceeded the security justifications they often provided. For a 13th consecutive year, the government enforced a generalized travel ban on Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip and sharply restricted the entry and exit of goods.

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The article addresses the plans of the Kenyan government to close the Dadaab refugee camp. Amnesty International Kenya's Executive Director, Irungu Houghton, warns that such a move could lead to a humanitarian disaster and international criticism. The refugees in the camp have fled armed conflict and experienced human rights abuses in Somalia.

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Closing Dadaab puts lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees at risk

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Kenya courts a humanitarian disaster with Dadaab closure plans.

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Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

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In November and October 2022, the Algerian authorities deported dozens of Syrian asylum seekers to a desert area on the border with Niger. The authorities are using this measure against migrants and asylum seekers entering Algeria on their way to Europe.
Notably, the deportees suffered abuse at the hands of the Algerian police during the transfers and before, when the police arrested them. The deportees reported that the police robbed them of their valuable belongings.

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In November and October 2022, the Algerian authorities deported dozens of Syrian asylum seekers to a desert area on the border with Niger. The authorities are using this measure against migrants and asylum seekers entering Algeria on their way to Europe.

Notably, the deportees suffered abuse at the hands of the Algerian police during the transfers and before, when the police arrested them. The deportees reported that the police robbed them of their valuable belongings.

While asylum seekers struggle with deportations, the bodies of 10 dead Syrians arrived in Northeastern Syria on 9 November 2022. The victims lost their lives in two refugee boat-drowning incidents off the Algerian coast on 3 and 4 October 2022.

Investigating the deportations, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) reached out to several Syrian asylum seekers, three of whom were deported in two different batches. The deportees confirmed that they and other asylum seekers from diverse nationalities were subjected to looting by the Algerian police. The police confiscated their cell phones, money, and other personal belongings. They added that the Algerian authorities transported them to a desert area, which lacked basic survival means.

Additionally, STJ communicated with a member of a committee assigned by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to return the bodies of the victims of the two drownings off the Algerian coast.

Following leads on the deportations, STJ obtained the firsthand account of Mas'oud Muhammad Qader, through an online interview in early November. Qader is a Syrian asylum seeker from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city, who was recently deported to the border of Niger. He narrated:

"We were in Oran city. On 14 October, we left the city for Mostaganem coast, intending to cross to Spain. However, the Algerian authorities arrested us. We started a hunger strike after the authorities refused to register us as refugees and renounced proposed solutions to settle our legal status, including obliging us to pay a fine or granting us a five-day interval to relocate to Lebanon or Iraq. Instead, the authorities used force to break the strike and assaulted one of the Syrian asylum seekers. Then, the authorities transported us to Oran city, where they confiscated all our personal belongings, including money and cell phones, preparing us for deportation. We had no idea why they were withholding our belongings, as they transported us out of Algeria. They transferred us to a neutral area with Niger by car on a trip that lasted three nights. Upon arriving there, we attempted to enter Assamakka town in Nigeria, but we were not allowed in. There is a Doctors Without Borders center in the town, affiliated with the African Union and designated for African immigrants. The center refused to host us. At night, we crossed the border back into Algeria on foot. In addition to asylum seekers from Yamen and Palestine, there were about 55 persons from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city. We walked for nearly 30 KM before we reached the nearest border town. There, we contacted smugglers, who only took advantage of us. We agreed with the smugglers that they take us to Oran city for 1,200 Euros. However, they abandoned us midway there. We could have never reached the city if it was not for the coincidence that led us to a man from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city. He helped us return to Oran. It remains unclear why the authorities sent us to the desert, with no way out but to return to Algeria through smuggling routes. The only logical conclusion I can think of, given that only human traffickers are profiteering from this, is that [the authorities] are probably encouraging, rather than, combating illegal immigration."

Qader added:

"We appealed to the Syrian embassy in Algeria to intervene, but it did not respond. All we wanted and still hope for is that humanitarian organizations and those affiliated with the United Nations to intervene to help us gain access to refugee status and to ask the Algerian authorities to settle our situation, even if that requires imposing fines or similar measures on us, especially since the deportations did not stop. Another batch of over 50 people was relocated to Niger a few days after we were deported."

Notably, the Algerian coast has been a major transit point for smuggling routes toward Spain for decades and, in the past few years, it has witnessed several tragic refugee boat drownings. The boats often sank because they were overloaded and several deaths happened because migrants were not equipped with any safety means.

For additional information on the deportations, STJ reached out to Azdishir al-Kurdi, from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city. Out of 15 Syrians, he is the only survivor of the boat drowning on 3 October 2022. After his rescue, the Algerian authorities deported al-Kurdi to the border with Niger. He recounted:

"On the morning of 4 October, Algerian fishermen rescued me after my boat drowned; it carried me with other 14 Syrians. The rest, all 14 died. I had been in the water for nearly 16 hours when they took me out. Then, they handed me over to the Algerian Coast Guard. The guards took me to Mostaganem City Hospital for treatment. Later, I was interrogated at a detention center in Mostaganem city. Three days later, they gave me a cell phone to call my family in Syria. They kept me in custody for 22 days and summoned me to identify the dead bodies they recovered from the sea. I managed to identify six of them. During my stay, they arrested other Syrians and brought them into the detention center where I was held. Then, the Algerian National Gendarmerie forces relocated us to Oran city. After 26 days in detention, they deported me to Niger, ignoring my injury at sea and that my body was weak. The trip to Niger took several days. We reached a desert area between the two countries. The batch consisted of over 60 persons, mostly Syrians from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab, Draa, and Idlib. There were families among us. We remained there for a day and then walked for nearly 30 KM until we reached an Algerian town. We borrowed the cell phone of an Algerian citizen and called smugglers to come to take us."

Al-Kurdi was transferred with Qader in the same batch and gave matching information about the Algerian pre-deportation measures:

"The post-arrest measures included a quick trial, during which the refugees are cleared of charges, exempted from the fine, and released. However, refugees are deported to Niger immediately after their release. The Algerian authorities robbed us of all our possessions, including money, cell phones, and even watches. A few days after I returned to Algeria, I managed to relocate to Morocco. The other Syrians, who also returned to Algeria, sought different destinations; they went to either Iraq or Lebanon. Notably, a new batch of asylum seekers was deported to the border with Niger only a few days after our batch was sent there. Additionally, several people remain in detention, including a cousin of mine, Nihad Muhammad. After the gendarmerie hands him over to the police, he will probably be subjected to a brief trial and then be deported to Niger in the same we were taken there."

In addtion to testimonies, STJ obtained a set of photos from the interviewed Syrian asylum seekers. They said it was taken in the area they were deported to.

Notably, several media outlets and rights organizations have published reports documenting deportation as a policy common to Algerian authorities, who continue to transfer migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to the desert border into Niger, known as "Point Zero". The reports also demonstrate that the authorities are likely involved in human rights violations against the deportees.

On the condition of his anonymity, a third Syrian asylum seeker gave STJ a matching account on the pre-deportation measures. He was deported to the same area that both al-Kurdi and Qader were sent to and suffered similar abuses at the hands of the Algerian police. He said:

"I am from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city. The Algerian Gendarmerie arrested me with other four persons in Mostaganem city. They transferred us to a police station, where they created an arrest report. Next, they took us to court and then handed us over to the police. The police did not ill-treat us at the detention center. However, when we asked them to buy us goods, they refused even though we asked them to use the money they confiscated from us. They deported us to Niger 15 days later. I was handcuffed the entire time, for nearly 48 hours. Throughout the transport, they offered us only a piece of bread and three pieces of cheese. We had no breaks and we were not allowed to go to the toilet until we arrived in Tamanrasset city. In the city, they gave us only our passports. We asked them to return our money and other belongings. They said that money and other personal objects were not sent with them. Then, we arrived in In Guezzam area, located nearly 10 KM away from the border with Niger. The area was home to 5000 African displaced persons. Our group consisted of 36 persons, including three families, among them women and babies. The driver of the car that transported us tried to help and return us. However, the Algerian police noticed that he did not unload. The officers assaulted the driver and his assistant. Then we had to walk back for nearly 30 KM before we reached the nearest border village. In the village, Algerian soldiers gave us water and food and allowed us to call smugglers. On board two cars, the smugglers took us to Tamanrasset area, located about 500 KM from the border. There, we were taken to a house and made a deposit payment of 12,000 Euros in exchange for returning us to the place we were. During the transport, I saw the Algerian police confiscate people's identity documents (IDs). These people did not get their IDs back; they were only given their passports back."

All the Syrian asylum seekers that STJ met, including those whose testimonies are not included in the report, gave identical information about the financial arrangements asylum seekers make with smugglers. They said: "Asylum seekers usually deposit sums that sometimes amount to 8,000 Euros with a third party, a broker who leads communication between them and the smugglers. The brokers make sure that smugglers do not get the money until refugees had reached Spain. However, the brokers refused to return the money to asylum seekers and migrants during the deportations, leaving them with no financial resources to support themselves, especially since the Algerian authorities confiscated all the money they still had. Additionally, several asylum seekers and migrants received death threats from smugglers, who warned them against disclosing the names of any of the persons involved or information about the extortion they faced."

Following upon the situation of Syrian asylum seekers in Algeria, STJ also obtained an update on the progress in the transport of the bodies of Syrian refugees who drowned in October. STJ learned that the bodies of 10 of the victims arrived home on 9 November 2022.

Before the transfers were carried out, STJ reached out to doctor Muhammad A'ref Ali, a member of the committee assigned by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to return the bodies of the victims of the two drownings off the Algerian coast. On 5 November Dr. Ali told STJ about the timeline and stages of the transfers over the phone:

"The legal procedures for returning the bodies of 10 of the victims have been completed. The bodies will be flown next Monday to Qatar because there are no direct flights to [Syria]. Then, they will arrive in Beirut the next day at 6:00 p.m., after which they will be transported by land to Syria. Eight of the victims are from Kobani; one is from Latakia and the other is from Manbij. Two additional bodies are yet to be returned home; [these are of Riber Bouzan Abdi from Minas village and Muhammad Mahmoud Osman from Koushkar village. Both villages are located in Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city]. The legal procedures of their transfers have yet to be completed, while it is expected that they will arrive home also next week."

Additionally, Dr. Ali provided STJ with an update on the number of Syrians, who went missing following the two drowning incidents:

"Five Syrians went missing after the two boats flipped. Moreover, two batches of Syrian refugees have been deported, and a batch of detainees has been released. However, as a committee, we are only concerned with returning the bodies of the victims, while the Autonomous Administration has assigned other people to address the affairs of detainees and the deportees stranded in Algeria and to help them return to Syria."

STJ crosschecked the information researchers collected on the drownings with the accounts presented by both the committee member, Ali, and the survivor, al-Kurdi. STJ managed to verify that 17 Syrians drowned and five went missing in the two incidents, contrary to 18 deaths and 6 missing persons reported by local media outlets.

While reporting the drownings, media outlets presented contested information about the two tragic trips. This contested information has led families to suspect the situation, and question if there are criminal motives behind the deaths of their sons - and even whether the boats that carried their relatives to presumably safer areas were deliberately sunk.

However, al-Kurdi stressed that the boat drownings were not pre-mediated. He recounted:

"On Monday, 3 October, 15 Syrian refugees, 13 of whom were from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city, set off on three small boats from the coast of Mostaganem. Each boat carried five [asylum seekers]. Nearly 15 KM away from the shore, we moved to a larger boat. The Algerian captain refused to steer the boat and decided to return using one of the smaller boats. Then, a man from Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab took over the boat. We sailed for two hours. At 8:30 p.m., our boat sank because of a huge wave. We could not get the water out of the boat. Some used containers to float and remain above the surface. We had no life jackets, which was the reason why many of the people died. Only four remained. We fought for life, with all means possible, while waiting for help. One of my friends passed me his waterproof phone. I turned on the light, trying to draw attention to our presence, but it was in vain. Shortly after, the waves drove us away from each other, and I remained in the sea for nearly 16 hours. It was not until the next morning that I was miraculously rescued by fishermen."

Drownings and deportations are often shrouded in silence because Algerian authorities rarely comment on the tragedies happening off the coast or the measures applied against asylum seekers entering Algerian territories illegally.

For instance, none of the official platforms of the Algerian police had reported the transfers of refugees to the borders with Niger.

Notably, the deportations are a violation of the obligations of the Algerian State under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Additional Protocol of 1967. Algeria became a ' successor ' to the Convention and Protocol on 21 February 1963. In relation to multilateral treaties, succession means the State expressed its consent to be considered as bound thereby.

Despite this status, according to Amnesty International, "The Algerian constitution prohibits the refoulement of political refugees (Article 69) but does not mention the right to seek asylum. It does not recognize the needs of those fleeing persecution and other forms of violence, in accordance with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees."

The drownings and the deportations are a continuation of the Syrian refugee crisis, described as the "the world's largest displacement crisis" by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a 2022 briefing.

The UNHCR has reported that "More than 13 million people have either fled [Syria] or are displaced within its borders", adding that dozens of immigrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea since January 2022.

Illegal crossings to Europe through Algerian and Lebanese waters are among the alternative routes that desperate Syrians are increasingly taking as regular portals pose growing risks to their lives. Earlier, refugees used to cross the borders into Turkey, their first stop to Europe, through Iraqi Kurdistan territories and points across the areas controlled by the Syrian National Army, also known as the "Peace Spring" strip.

The sea journey has proven to be no less a fatal endeavor. Only recently, at least 94 persons died off the Syrian shore, in Tartous city, on 22 September 2022. The boat was carrying Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese asylum seekers.

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Algeria: Syrian Asylum Seekers Deported to Desert Border of Niger - Syrians for Truth and Justice

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In November and October 2022, the Algerian authorities deported dozens of Syrian asylum seekers to a desert area on the border with Niger. The authorities are using this measure against migrants and asylum seekers entering Algeria on their way to Europe.