In Tunisia, refugees and asylum seekers have been observing a sit-in for four days in front of the premises of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the capital Tunis. Coming from Eritrea, Sudan or even neighboring Libya, they denounce ill-treatment and wish to be relocated elsewhere than in Tunisia.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
Equipped with blankets, plastic bags or boxes, there are a few dozen of them camping in front of the UNHCR premises in Tunis. Embarrassed by their living conditions, Youssef, a stateless person from Libya and father of four children, wishes to make this clarification: “ Don’t think I’ve always been this dirty. It’s been three months since I last showered. I swear by God I haven’t washed in three months. You who look at me, I want to tell you that it happened to me to be beautiful, I was not always like that. »
After three years of scraping by in the south of the country, he says he can no longer afford to pay his rent since the UNHCR lowered the monthly allowance it paid him.
In addition to the UN refugee agency, he also resents Tunisian law enforcement: ” We are not left alone. When private individuals bring us aid, water, bread, we prevent them from doing so. The police threaten us, exhaust us. »
Faced with this situation, most asked to be evacuated from Tunisia.
This is the case of Abdallah, a 25-year-old Eritrean. ” Without a solution, we have friends who have gone to Libya. They attempted to cross the Mediterranean and died at sea. I still have their photos with me. So that the same thing does not happen to us, we must evacuate Tunisia. »
When contacted, the UNHCR office in Tunis was unreachable.