The Displacement of Asylum: Securitization, 'Voluntary Return' and Israel's Management of Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum Seekers

Since the founding of the state in 1948, Israel has recognized just over 200 people as refugees, raising concerns about the state’s exclusionary approach towards asylum seekers. Through primary and secondary research, this thesis explores factors contributing to the departure of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers through ‘voluntary return.’ Utilizing interviews, participant observation, a focus group and discourse analysis, the conditions of asylum and the Israeli government’s role in making Israel inhospitable to asylum seekers is explored. This research also provides an analysis of the state’s management of asylum, examining the securitization of asylum seekers in the discourse of state agents and politicians. Along with obstacles to accessing Israel’s asylum system and exclusionary policies, draconian laws and the use of detention have been features of Israel’s management of asylum, shaping the conditions that inform the departure of asylum seekers from the Israeli state.