Tunisia is once again in the news for the mistreatment it inflicts on migrants following the publication of a report by experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council. Revealed this Monday, October 14, the text denounces the violence against migrants which continues in the country.
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With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
Beatings given to migrants on the open sea, attempts to capsize their boats, transfers of force to Libya or Algeria, shooting aimed at those who try to retrace their steps: these are the conclusions of this report which implicates the Tunisian coast guard and security forces.
This comes as no surprise to NGOs specializing in sea rescue, which also report cases of boats boarded in the open sea and sometimes robbed of their fuel reserves or their engines.
The migrants are then left adrift off the Tunisian coast.
According to the same report, 265 people lost their lives from January to July last year in interception operations at sea, 189 during crossings. Ninety-five other people are missing.
Practices that worry, while the Tunisia obtained, this summer, an extension of the maritime zone under its control for rescues at sea. NGOs like SOS-Mediterranean believe that Tunisia is not a safe disembarkation destination for migrants. The organization also believes that these violations occur with the “ complicity » of the European Union which would seek, according to it, to delegate the management of its borders to third countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, such as Tunisia.
Also readTunisia: the situation of migrants still causes great concern