2023-07-18 15:13:35
© Amnesty International.
Before the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding under which the EU has agreed, among other things, to provide financial and technical support to Tunisia to discourage migration to Europe, Eve Geddie, Advocacy Director at Amnesty International’s Office for Institutions European, has stated:
“It is reckless agreementsigned despite mounting evidence of serious human rights abuses committed by the authorities, will lead to the dangerous expansion of failed immigration policies and indicates the EU’s acceptance of an increasingly repressive attitude on the part of the Tunisian president and government.
In a context of escalating violence and abuses against migrants of sub-Saharan origin by the Tunisian authorities, the decision indicates that experience with previous agreements similar to this one has not been learned. This makes the European Union complicit in the resulting suffering, which will be inevitable.
At the same time that Tunisia and the EU were preparing to sign this agreement, the Tunisian authorities left hundreds of people, including girls and boys, trapped at the borders located in desert areas of Tunisia, initially without water, food or shelter.
By focusing its policies and funding on containing migration and the delegation of border control and not guaranteeing safe and legal routes for those trying to cross the border safelyEU leaders have once again embarked on failed policies that are based on callous disregard for basic human rights standards.”
Additional information
The Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement of the European Union, Olivér Várhelyi, and the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisian Persons Abroad of Tunisia, Mounir Ben Rjiba, signed the Memorandum of Understanding after a meeting between the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, held on Sunday in Tunis. The Memorandum of Understanding, which includes financial support for Tunisia, is intended to prevent arrivals in Europe, increase returns of Tunisians without permission to stay in Europe, and make it easier for people of other nationalities to be transferred from Tunisia to third countries.
The agreement was negotiated without input from civil society and lacks basic human rights guarantees. The press conference given by the Tunisian and EU leaders after the agreement did not include journalists.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has held near-absolute power to govern since the suspension of the country’s Parliament in 2021. Authorities have investigated and arrested at least 72 opposition figures and others suspected of criticizing the president, accused of various crimes.
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