Tunisia is abandoning undocumented migrants in the desert

A Tunisian lawyer was recently condemned for statements that criticised the treatment of Sub-Saharan refugees and undocumented migrants inside Tunisia. Sonia Dhamani was sentenced to two years in prison by a Tunisia court, Al Jazeera reported on June 30th.

Dhamani is well-known for being a critic of President Kais Saied and was previously sentenced to two years in prison in October last year. Dhamani’s lawyers voluntarily stopped their involvement in the proceedings before its completion, claiming that Dhamani was repeatedly being tried for the same act.

Human rights groups say the sentencing marks a crackdown on the rising defiance emerging across the country.

Earlier this year, 7,000 African migrants were forcibly expelled from makeshift camps outside the coastal city of Sfax by Tunisian police officers carrying batons, Info Migrants reported. Groups of migrants fled the scene as their tents were set on fire in an effort to dismantle the camps.

The refugees, asylum seekers and migrants were given 48 hours to leave the camp without any plans on where to go. Tunisia’s national guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli said that many families headed for the countryside. Pregnant women and ill persons would be taken care of by the health authorities, he added.

Around 15 camps have emerged since the police first expelled its refugee population in September 2023. According to Tunisia’s government, some 20,000 camps have been set up in the countryside region of El Amra and Jebeniana.

Speaking to reporters, Patricia, a qualified nurse who had been working in her own makeshift clinic located at one of the temporary settlements said: “I don’t know what I will do… I don’t know where I will go.”

Patricia had left Sierra Leone, intending to settle in Europe, looking for better life after her father was killed in a car accident. After travelling with smugglers for months, during her third failed attempt to reach Europe she was stopped by Tunisian security forces and abandoned in the desert. Along with her fellow travellers, Patricia was left in the Sahara desert without a mobile phone, money or directions back.

Sfax and its surrounding countryside region is an extremely popular destination for sub-Saharan African migrants attempting to reach Lampedusa, Italy, by sea.

Camara Hassan, a 25-year-old Guinean international relations student told AFP: “We’ve suffered a lot… One way or another we’ll make it.”

Another young man, a 29-year-old Cameroonian, described the situation as “horrible” and said the authorities “treat us like we’re not human”.

Benjamin Enna, a 29-year-old Nigerian national said that he was contemplating returning to Nigeria. “My head’s all mixed up,” he said.

A recent study by the Economic Research Forum investigated the impact of sub-Saharan African migrants on the Tunisian labour market. For many sub-Saharan African migrants, Tunisia has progressively transitioned from a transit nation to a host nation due to the tightened border controls and the European Unions stricter anti-illegal migration policies.

In regard to Tunisia’s labour market, the researchers exposed that sub-Saharan immigration has significantly lowered salaries in Tunisia, particularly for workers in micro businesses. However, sub-Saharan migrants have had no significant impact on native employment and unemployment rates.

The study pointed to data published by the Tunisia National Institute of Statistics, noting that between 2010 and 2021, the number of sub-Saharan immigrants jumped from 7,000 to 21,000. Findings showed that more than 80% of migrants were aged between 15 and 34 years old. Almost 70% of sub-Saharan migrants settling in Tunisia were men, the study added.

For Tunisian women in the agricultural, industrial and trade sectors, immigration negatively impacted employment rates. However, immigration in Tunisia has had a positive and significant impact on the employment rates for men working in the industrial sector. Instead of posing as a direct competition, the Tunisian male labour force benefits from a foreign workforce.

Al Jazeera, Info Migrants, AFP, Economic Research Forum, Tunisia National Institute of Statistics