Tunisian security forces have committed “serious abuses” in recent months against sub-Saharan migrants, which should prompt the European Union (EU) to “stop supporting” the country in the fight against irregular immigration, argues the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report, Wednesday July 19.
HRW specifies that it has collected more than 20 testimonies from “victims of human rights violations at the hands of the Tunisian authorities”, according to a press release which denounces the actions “of the police, the military, the coast guards”. “These abuses document beatings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, mass expulsions, dangerous actions at sea, forced evictions, theft of money and personal effects,” according to HRW.
Of those interviewed, nine returned to their countries on repatriation flights in March and eight are still in Tunisia. Seven others are part of a group of “1,200 black Africans expelled and forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces to the borders with Libya and Algeria in early July,” HRW said.
Following clashes that cost the life of a Tunisian on July 3, hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants were driven out of the city of Sfax (center-east), the main point of departure for illegal emigration to Europe, before being transferred to inhospitable areas near Libya to the east and Algeria to the west. Testimonies collected by the NGO show that they were left without water, food or shelter in the middle of the desert.
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According to the report, “the majority of documented abuses took place after President Kais Saied’s February 21 speech in which he condemned illegal immigration, denouncing the arrival of ‘hordes of migrants’ who, according to him, “changing the demographic composition of Tunisia”.
The interviewees claim to have suffered violence in police stations, where some “were subjected to electric shocks”. Others denounced “arbitrary arrests and detentions based on their skin color”, without prior verification of their papers. Several complain of “abuse during interception and rescue operations near Sfax”, saying they were “beaten, robbed, left adrift without a motor and insulted”, according to HRW.
The NGO, which wrote to the Tunisian government at the end of June without receiving a response, urges the EU to stop its aid to the fight against illegal immigration in Tunisia “until an assessment of its impact on human rights”. “By funding security forces who commit abuses, the EU shares responsibility for the suffering inflicted on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers,” said Lauren Seibert, an HRW researcher quoted in the report.
The EU and Tunisia concluded “a strategic partnership” on Sunday, which provides for the granting by Brussels of 105 million euros to Tunis in the form of equipment and to finance a “voluntary return” of 6,000 Sub-Saharans.
