2023-08-15 18:03:16
They want to show their outrage. Researchers and members of civil society “from the South and the North” take a stand “against European and Tunisian anti-migrant and anti-black policies”, in a column published Tuesday by Tunisian, French and Italian media.
The dozens of signatories, nationals of France, Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany, Algeria, Niger, the United States and Canada, among others, take a collective stand against the “Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic and Global Partnership between the European Union (EU) and Tunisia”, signed on July 16, 2023, and against “the policies of externalization of EU borders”.
The painful daily life of Tunisian migrants
This column, signed by researchers, academics, lawyers and members of NGOs, is published by the Italian newspaper Daily fact and the French Mediapart and Tunisian news sites Nawaat. “Tunisia now shows its own will to maintain a system of exclusion and exploitation of nationals of sub-Saharan African countries”, deplores the forum.
The situation has been extremely difficult for migrants in Tunisia since President Kais Saied, who assumed full powers in July 2021, denounced illegal immigration on February 21, referring to “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who had come, according to him, “to change the demographic composition” of the country. An increasingly openly xenophobic discourse has thus spread in the country.
Several dead migrants in Tunisia
Following clashes that claimed the life of a Tunisian on July 3, hundreds of African migrants were driven out of Sfax, Tunisia’s second city, led by the authorities, according to NGOs, near Libya and Algeria , in the middle of the desert. Without water, food or shelter in temperatures over 40 degrees, many died, Human Rights Watch said.
“Instead of denouncing this racist escalation, (…) European officials instrumentalise so-called irregular immigration by presenting it as a ‘common scourge’”, regret the signatories. “Opportunistically and irresponsibly, the EU consolidates the presidential discourse and fuels anti-migrant and anti-black phobia, while conveying the idea that the EU helps Tunisia to protect its borders, not European borders” .
A Memorandum signed between the EU and Tunisia criticized
The signatories denounce a “Memorandum signed in a non-transparent manner, without consulting parliamentarians, trade unions or civil society”. “It does not include specific guarantees as to the respect of fundamental rights, nor follow-up measures on the use of the donations allocated to the Tunisian security forces”.
The forum calls for establishing “a listening ear and a constructive dialogue with the Tunisian and non-Tunisian populations directly concerned, the various associations which represent them, the social actors and the scientific community”.
“These dialogues should bring out a collective reflection on political solutions to the current murderous border regime, by addressing migration as a right and an asset for all,” she concludes.
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