صحافة بلادي صحيفة إلكترونية مغاربية متجددة على مدار الساعة تعنى بشؤون المغرب الجزائر ليبيا موريتانيا تونس
TunisiaAmnesty International accused the Tunisian authorities of pursuing a systematic policy based on exclusion and discrimination against refugees and asylum seekers, calling for an end to what it described as “racist and xenophobic” policies, reopening asylum procedures, stopping mass expulsions and forced returns, in addition to lifting restrictions imposed on civil society organizations that provide support to migrants and refugees.
The organization said, in a report issued today, that refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia, especially those from sub-Saharan African countries, have been facing widespread violations since 2023, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention, mass expulsion, and ill-treatment, in light of the escalation of official rhetoric inciting against migrants.
She explained that the crisis worsened during June 2024 after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees suspended registering asylum applications and determining refugee status, based on the decision of the Tunisian authorities, which left thousands of people without any legal mechanism to obtain international protection, and made them more vulnerable to violations.
The organization believed that this decision came in the context of cooperation between Tunisia and the European Union on the immigration issue, considering that policies of outsourcing immigration control contributed to deepening the suffering of refugees in exchange for reducing the flows of immigrants towards Europe.
During the preparation of the report, Amnesty International conducted interviews with 25 refugees and asylum seekers from several countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Guinea, Libya and Algeria, where they documented their exposure to a series of violations while in Tunisia.
The report recorded cases of detention of refugees despite some of them possessing official documents issued by UNHCR, in addition to the detention of women and children in shelter centers that, according to the organization, have turned into places of indefinite administrative detention, without detainees being able to challenge the legality of their detention.
The organization also documented mass expulsions to the Libyan and Algerian borders that affected dozens of refugees, including children, confirming that some of the deportees were later detained by armed groups that demanded their families pay ransoms in exchange for their release.
The report referred to testimonies about their exposure to torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks, humiliating searches, and sexual violence, during arrest and deportation operations.
The organization pointed out that the escalation of anti-immigrant political rhetoric, since President Kais Saied’s statements in February 2023, has contributed to the spread of violence and discrimination against refugees, and has led to a deterioration in their living conditions, with many of them losing sources of income, housing, and basic services.
The report confirmed that many real estate owners and employers have begun to avoid dealing with irregular migrants for fear of legal prosecution, which has pushed a large number of refugees into homelessness or to live in inappropriate housing, while some women, according to testimonies provided in the report, have been forced to resort to sexual relations in exchange for money to secure their families’ needs.
Amnesty International considered that these conditions prompted some refugees to return to their countries despite the risks, in what it described as “indirect forced return,” as a result of the absence of any safe or legal options to stay or leave.
At the conclusion of its report, the organization called on the Tunisian authorities to respect their international obligations related to the protection of refugees, reactivate asylum procedures, end policies of detention and mass expulsion, and ensure that refugees and asylum seekers have access to protection and basic services without any discrimination.
Source:“My press”
