The EU must stop giving money to Tunisia if the country does not deal with the ill-treatment of migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
This is what the researcher of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch says Lauren Seibert To .
This year, Tunisia, located in North Africa, has become the most important point of departure for unauthorized immigration to Europe across the Mediterranean.
The EU wants to block routes and has therefore been funding the security authorities of North African countries for years. Now the EU has tentatively agreed with Tunisia on a new billion-dollar support package.
The EU concluded the letter of intent despite the fact that the evidence Tunisia’s abuses towards migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are piling up.
– When the EU finances Tunisia’s security authorities, it is partly responsible for human rights violations, says Human Rights Watch’s Seibert.
As a partner, the EU has an autocratic president in Tunisia Kaïs Saïed, which in two years has practically destroyed Tunisia’s democracy. The president has also claimed that the immigration of Africans will lead to population change in Tunisia and thus provoked attacks against foreigners.
The agreement signed by the EU signals that Europe accepts the increasing repressive measures of the Tunisian administration, says human rights organization Amnesty International.
How does Tunisia treat those who aspire to Europe?
Recently, there have been more people aspiring to Europe than before in Tunisia, for example because there has been unrest in neighboring Libya.
In recent months, thousands of people who want to go to Europe have gathered in the Tunisian beach town of Sfax.
President Kaïs Saïed spoke in spring winter About “hordes of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa” and a conspiracy to change the composition of Tunisia’s population.
The government later explained that the president meant only those people who have entered the country illegally.
After the speeches, black Africans in Tunisia have been subjected to more violence, arbitrary arrests and hate speech than before, says Human Rights Watch, among others. Many who came to Tunisia have tried to leave the country.
Human Rights Watch has documented several cases in which the authorities have mistreated and even tortured migrants. The authorities have forced boats that left the coast back and used violence in situations.
This month, according to eyewitnesses, Tunisian authorities transported hundreds of people from sub-Saharan Africa to the desert, bordering Libya. People interviewed by human rights organizations said that the Tunisian soldiers left them to their own devices without enough water and food.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference last Sundaythat the EU’s cooperation with Tunisia fully complies with international law.
That is not true, says a Human Rights Watch researcher.
– International law forbids, for example, mass deportation. However, Tunisia has adopted the tactic, says Seibert.
Libya, Algeria and Morocco have done the same in the past, but the EU has still financed their border and security authorities. By doing so, the EU itself violates international law, says Seibert.
According to the Tunisian president mass deportations are lies spread by the media and NGOs. According to him, migrants are treated humanely in Tunisia.
– Tunisia has set an example to the world with the way it has taken care of migrants, President Saïed said this week.
What is the president of Tunisia accused of?
Tunisia was a functioning democracy in the 2010s. In 2021, President Saïed abolished the parliament and concentrated power for himself.
According to the president, the purpose of the actions was to save Tunisia from the cycle of corruption. According to opponents, it was a coup.
The president has weakened the independence of the judiciary by dismissing judges. This year is Tunisia arrested many of the president’s political opponents and interpreted as critics. Several of them face charges of conspiracy against state security and face the death penalty.
Among others, the leadership of Tunisia’s largest opposition party, Ennahda, has been put behind bars.
The administration has banned peaceful demonstrations. Reporters have been arrested of the regulation on “spreading rumors and fake news”. under. Tunisia has fallen 49 places in two years according to the Reporters Without Borders organization on the press freedom list.
Children of imprisoned judges and politicians accuse the EU of whitewashing President Saïed. The EU aid money does not stop immigration to Europe, but boosts Saïed’s administration, they say.
Also, among other things, EU parliamentarians from different parties have criticized the agreement and demandedthat the EU intervenes in the downfall of Tunisia’s democracy.
What did the EU agree with Tunisia now?
The EU and individual member states such as Italy have financed the Tunisian border control authorities since 2015. The new memorandum of understanding on “strategic partnership” deepens the cooperation.
The goal of the agreement is to curb unauthorized entry into Europe.
The EU promises about one hundred million euros more for border control and preventing human smuggling. The purpose is also to finance the return of Tunisians living in EU countries without documents to their homeland.
According to Human Rights Watch researcher Lauren Seibert, the agreement is very vaguely worded.
– It does not include guarantees that the EU will not finance entities that commit human rights violations, says Seibert.
According to Human Rights Watch, the EU should not pay Tunisia to curb migration until a thorough analysis of the human rights impacts has been carried out.
In total, the EU has offered Tunisia, which is suffering from severe economic difficulties, a support package of well over a billion euros. It includes immediate budget support and a 900 million euro loan. The condition is that Tunisia agrees to the economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In Tunisia, the EU also supports, among other things, renewable energy projects and training.
The agreement still requires the approval of EU member states.
Among the EU countries, for example, Italy has wanted that citizens of other countries who left across the Mediterranean could also be returned to Tunisia. Tunisia however, so far has saidthat it is not going to accept any other than its own citizens from Europe.
According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Tunisia cannot be considered a country to which it would be safe to transfer asylum seekers.
Sources: Reuters, AFP