In a statement issued on Monday (January 8), the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) warned of ongoing abuses against migrants in the north African country.

The group said witness accounts indicate that the situation is especially serious around Tunisia’s borders with Libya and Algeria where migrants are driven and are left to fend for themselves in the desert or end up in detention centers run by armed groups.

The NGO also stated that migrants in Sfax, Tunisia’s second-biggest city and a common departure point for people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, are regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest and violence, and many have had their property destroyed.

Such abuses are being carried out not only against migrants who enter Tunisia without documents but also against refugees, students and workers from sub-Saharan Africa, according to FTDES.

Also read: Sub-Saharan Africans flee violence in Tunisia: Departures from Sfax on the rise

Abuses unabated

Large-scale expulsions of migrants from Sfax to desert regions bordering Libya and Algeria began in July after a Tunisian man was killed in a fight involving several migrants.

Racial tension in Tunisia had been rising since a xenophobic speech by President Kais Saied in February 2023, in which he alleged that "hordes" of migrants were causing crime and posing a threat to the mainly Arab country. Following his remarks, hundreds of migrants lost their jobs and homes. 

Allegations of expulsions and rights abuses against sub-Saharan African migrants continued through the second half of 2023, with groups including Human Rights Watch and Refugees International, another US-based NGO, accusing Tunisian security forces of systematic abuses against refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants.

Tunisian officials have said that small groups of migrants have been forced across the country’s desert borders, but they reject the claims of wide-scale abuse and expulsions.

Also read: Tunisia expels hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants from Sfax amid crackdown

Consequence of EU deal

The FTDES statement is the latest indication that the situation for migrants in Tunisia remains dire. It also claims that the continued abuses are the direct result of deals worth more than 100 million euros between Tunisia and the European Union to prevent migrants from leaving the north African country for the shores of the EU.

The Tunisian government is waging a campaign of repression against migrants at the expense of humanitarian concerns "in order to satisfy European blackmail and ensure a steady stream of financial and logistical support," Monday’s statement said.

More than 97,000 migrants managed to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia to Italy in 2023, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

FTDES called on the Tunisian government to end the expulsions to the borders and to transfer migrants to safe locations where their humanitarian needs can be met.

"Sovereignty is not achieved by intimidating vulnerable groups and resorting to outdated laws and discriminatory circulars, but rather by initiating national policies that guarantee dignity, rights and freedoms for all humans," it said.

With AP

Also read: Migrants deported from Tunisia: 'The EU will continue to monitor the situation closely'