The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday denied a petition by 132 migrants from the Ivory Coast to retain the group immunity from deportation they had enjoyed until last December.

“The petitioners did not offer a factual basis for the claim that there was inherent danger to the life or freedom of an Ivory Coast national if he were returned to his native land,” wrote Judge David Mintz.

“The data in their entirety regarding the security situation in the Ivory Coast shows that even though the situations in some parts of the country are still problematic and dangerous, there has been a gradual but significant improvement in recent months,” the judge continued.

There are an estimated 1,500-2,000 migrants in Israel from the Ivory Coast, a West African nation in which civil war has been raging for the past decade. While a peace treaty signed in 2008 improved the situation there somewhat, the United Nations, in January 2011, declared the country unstable and advised against repatriating its citizens.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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