In the beginning of 2017 the Population, Immigration and Border Authority hired the services of the Israeli Immigration Policy Center to write a comparative study regarding the situation in Eritrea, recognizing the high quality of the research material presented by the IIPC, as well as its factual reliability.

In its request to approve liasing with the tender committee, PIBA wrote:

“The Israeli Immigration and Policy Center specializes in comparative international; legal studies regarding the issues relating to immigration and asylum policy in Israel and around the world.

“In the field of legislation, the center acted to promote the Deposit Law as part of the ‘Law Against Infiltration and to Ensure the Exit of Migrants from Israel.’ On the research front the Israeli Immigration Policy Center is responsible for writing studies criticizing the reports issued by the Knesset’s Research and Information Center regarding the phenomenon of illegal migration. In the legal aspect, the center joined as respondent in three appeals to cancel the Anti-Infiltration Law as well as an appeal to the High Court of Justice against the procedure for handling infiltrators involved in criminal activity.

“Since the home country of most infiltrators residing in Israel is Eritrea, the center focused on the issue of political asylum for Eritrean migrants, the policy of non-deportation, military service conditions in the country and its handling of defectors and people who left with no permission. The center receives requests from academics from all over the world regarding this issue and gives interviews on the subject to international media outlets. The activity of the Israeli Immigration Policy Center in this field includes being up to date on the most up to date research and legal information on this issue and also following up on the implementation of policy in practice.”