Tunisian NGOs call out govt’s harsh migrant treatment
As the Tunisian government recently promised to act tough on migration, they are under severe scrutiny from pro-immigration groups within the country as it was revealed that a mass number of migrants were expelled and/ or locked up recently, according to the Associated Press (AP)
Many migrants from the sub-Sahara attempt to reach the North African country before setting off on dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean, seeking to reach the European continent. There have been various cases of migrants drowning on the way to Europe given that they are often transported on makeshift boats. The Med is now also patrolled to a higher extent by authorities.
French newspaper Le Monde reported on January 10 that, 266,940 migrants and refugees, of whom the overwhelming majority came by sea, landed in the Southern European countries of Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus throughout 2023 and that migration, mostly from Tunisia and the Canary Islands, had risen by two thirds last year.
On January 8, The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), an advocacy group that studies migration issues amongst other key problems in Tunisian society, accused Kais Saied’s government of pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment in order “to satisfy European blackmail and ensure a steady stream of financial and logistical support.”
READ: Tunisian authorities foiled 70,000 migrants in 2023
Much has been made of Tunisia’s deal with the European Union, signed in July, in which the bloc gives the country hundreds of millions of Euros to help their struggling economy in exchange for stronger border security as the EU has been increasingly concerned at the high numbers coming into the continent, mostly from Tunisia and Libya.
The Tunisian NGO also noted that in the southeastern city of Sfax, just under 200km from Lampedusa, migrants have been the victims of violent acts, arbitrary arrests as well as having their homes and other possessions taken off them by local authorities.
FTDES urged the country’s leadership to end mass deportations as well as making Tunisia safer for them and to allow those lacking documents to gain some form of legal status.
The increasingly authoritarian Kais Saied ramped up his hostile anti-immigrant rhetoric in early 2023 when he claimed that migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are a threat to Tunisia’s demographics and identity in addition to calling on the authorities to act tougher on the “mass numbers” of migrants.
AP/ Le Monde
