In mid-September, Tunisia forcibly removed over 100 African migrants to its border with Algeria, a move that Human Rights Watch has described as potentially indicating a “dangerous shift” in policy.
The individuals who were deported, including children and potentially asylum-seekers, were intercepted at sea and subsequently brought ashore by the coastguard, according to HRW.
Previously, these individuals would have been released within Tunisia; however, in this instance, they were transported to the Algerian border. Some of the migrants have raised complaints, alleging that National Guard agents had assaulted them and pilfered their belongings, HRW added.
“Only two months after the last inhumane mass expulsions of Black African migrants and asylum seekers to the desert, Tunisian security forces have again exposed people to danger by abandoning them in remote border areas, without food or water,” said HRW’s Tunisia director, Salsabil Chellali.
rewrite news line In a statement, HRW said: “These operations may signal a dangerous shift in Tunisian policy, as authorities had previously usually released intercepted migrants in Tunisia after disembarkation”.
In July, Tunisia forcibly expelled hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to its desert borders with Algeria and Libya following a confrontation in which a Tunisian citizen was killed during a clash with migrants in the city of Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city.
The large-scale deportation, which humanitarian sources estimate impacted over 2,000 migrants and asylum-seekers, received strong condemnation from the United Nations.
Twenty-seven of those who were forcibly expelled perished in the desert no-man’s land near the Libyan border, and many others are reported as missing, according to sources.
The most recent deportations occurred following a July 16 agreement between the European Union and Tunisia to provide financial support for Tunisia’s efforts to combat irregular migration, which has brought Tunisia’s policies into focus.
“The African Union and governments of the people affected should publicly condemn Tunisia’s abuse of fellow Africans, and the European Union should halt all funding to authorities responsible for abuse,” HRW said.
