Source: Amnesty International –
The Tunisian authorities have over the past three years increasingly dismantled protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, particularly Black people, with a dangerous shift towards racist policing and widespread human rights violations that endanger their lives, safety and dignity, Amnesty International said today. The European Union risks complicity by maintaining cooperation on migration control without effective human rights safeguards.
In a new report, ‘Nobody Hears You When You Scream’: Dangerous Shift in Tunisia’s Migration Policy, Amnesty International has documented how, fuelled by racist rhetoric from officials, Tunisian authorities have carried out racially targeted arrests and detentions; reckless interceptions at sea; collective expulsions of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants to Algeria and Libya; and subjected refugees and migrants to torture and other ill-treatment, including rape and other sexual violence, while cracking down on civil society providing critical assistance.
In June 2024, Tunisian authorities ordered an end to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) role in processing asylum claims, removing the only avenue for seeking asylum in the country. Yet EU cooperation with Tunisia on migration control has continued without effective human rights safeguards, risking EU complicity in serious violations and trapping more people where their lives and rights are at risk.
“The Tunisian authorities have presided over horrific human rights violations, stoking xenophobia, while dealing blow after blow to refugee protection. They must immediately reverse this devastating rollback by ending racist incitement and stopping collective expulsions that threaten lives. They must protect the right to asylum and ensure that they don’t expel anyone to places where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations. NGO staff and human rights defenders detained for assisting refugees and migrants must be released unconditionally,” said Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“The EU must urgently suspend any migration and border control assistance aimed at containing people in Tunisia and halt funding to security forces or other entities responsible for human rights violations against refugees and migrants. Instead of prioritizing containment and fuelling violations, EU cooperation with Tunisia must shift its focus to ensuring adequate protection measures and asylum procedures are available in the country, and incorporate clear, enforceable human rights benchmarks and conditions, to avoid complicity in violations.”
Amnesty International conducted research between February 2023 and June 2023 and interviewed 120 refugees and migrants from nearly 20 countries (92 men, 28 women, eight children aged 16–17) in Tunis, Sfax, and Zarzis. The organization also reviewed UN, media, and civil society sources and the official pages of local Tunisian authorities. Ahead of publication, Amnesty shared its findings with Tunisian, European, and Libyan authorities. No response had been received by the time of publication.