In a new report published on Thursday 6 November, the NGO Amnesty International denounced widespread human rights violations against migrants in Tunisia, including rape and torture.
Based on a survey of 120 migrants carried out between February 2023 and June 2025, the NGO once again accused the EU of “cynicism” in the context of the agreement signed with Tunis in 2023.
“The Tunisian authorities have over the past three years increasingly dismantled protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, particularly Black people, with a dangerous shift towards racist policing and widespread human rights violations that endanger their lives, safety and dignity,” deplores Amnesty International.
In particular, the Tunisian authorities have carried out “racially targeted arrests and detentions; reckless interceptions at sea; collective expulsions of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants to Algeria and Libya; and subjected refugees and migrants to torture and other ill-treatment, including rape and other sexual violence”.
In June 2024, “Tunisian authorities ordered an end to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) role in processing asylum claims, removing the only avenue for seeking asylum in the country. Yet EU cooperation with Tunisia on migration control has continued without effective human rights safeguards”, the NGO goes on to denounce.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/jb9 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)