Italy's main asylum and migration coalition expressed its opposition to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the European Union and Tunisia. The Asylum and Migration Table has also issued a call for the Italian Parliament and the European one to "firmly condemn" the planned cooperation.
The Asylum and Migration Table, which is comprised of dozens of national organizations operating in migrant advocacy in Italy, said that the MOU signed on between the EU and Tunisia on MOU signed on July 16 would be "to the detriment of the respect of international law, human rights, and the dignity of the persons migrating."
In a press release dated 20 July, the coalition said that by entering this coalition, the EU would "once again finance an undemocratic regime," referring to the autocratic leadership of Tunisian President Kais Saied.
Members of the Asylum and Migration Table include ActionAid, Amnesty International Italy, the International Rescue Committee Italy, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam Italy, Refugees Welcome Italy and many other NGOs.
Dirty deals between the EU and autocratic governments
The Asylum and Migration Table compared the MOU to the 2016 deal signed between the EU and Turkey to help set migration flows into the bloc, as well as to the EU's ongoing financial support of authorities in Libya.
"Just like it already happened with Erdogan's Turkey and with the militia in Libya, the EU, in the attempt to contain arrivals on Italian and European coasts, finances a regime that has effectively erased democratic safeguards internally.
"And the EU does this without placing any conditionality concerning respecting fundamental human rights beyond the usual wording that sounds like a purely stylistic exercise," the group said.
No respect for human rights
The Asylum and Migration Table highlighted further that Saied had "dissolved the Parliament, has launched a true manhunt aimed at foreigners coming from sub-Saharan Africa, and has illegally deported hundreds of persons in transit for Europe to the border with Libya and Algeria."
"This caused the death of many, including women and children, and has resulted in the violation of the same international rights that the MOU invokes," the organization stressed, claiming further that "none of these issues appear to have been taken into consideration by the Italian Premier, Giorgia Meloni, and by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen."