Report on EU-funded Tunisian Authorities Linked to Severe Human Rights Abuse Brushed Away by Brussels

Transit camp for migrants near the Tunisian border with Libya (Photo: UK Department for International Development)

The European Commission can no longer ignore mounting evidence of the gross human rights violations against migrants and refugees in Tunisia, say MEPs and activists. That said, a recent investigative piece by British newspaper The Guardian about EU-funded Tunisian authorities committing severe human rights abuse was downplayed by officials in Brussels.

As part of an agreement that guarantees “respect for human rights,” the EU has granted millions of pounds to Tunisia in order to decrease migration from North Africa into Europe. However, a Guardian investigation this week detailed claims of widespread mistreatment, including sexual violence against women in need, carried out by security forces in Tunisia that receive funding from the EU. Witness accounts of young immigrant women being sexually assaulted by Tunisian national guards at a base close to the Algerian border were reported by The Guardian. The EU is allegedly paying the same guards, according to the paper; the commission disputes this.

The European Commission is coming under increasing pressure to clarify whether more EU funding will go to Tunisia, how long it has known about these violent practices, and what steps it is taking to “remedy the situation.”

“How is that decrease made possible? Every day, people are imprisoned, women are raped, and children are abandoned and left to perish in the desert, according to David Yambio, a spokesman for the organization Refugees in Libya.

“Every deal reached with the regimes in Libya and Tunisia is a death sentence for refugees and migrants,” he continued.

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles’ director, Catherine Woollard, stated: “These abuses are the horrifying yet completely predictable violations that always result from these kinds of deals.”Civil society organizations in Tunisia and the EU are doing everything within their power to protect the rights of those impacted, including monitoring and recording violations, taking legal action, and providing direct assistance and support. Regretfully, civil society is experiencing repression as well.

According to the Guardian investigation, national guard officers are allegedly regularly robbing, beating, and leaving women and children in the desert without food or water, as well as conspiring with smugglers to arrange migrant boat trips.
A spokesman for the Commission informed reporters on Tuesday, September 24, that EU funding for migration programs is instead directed toward international organizations, EU member states, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have local presence.

Similar claims were made by a Libyan police officer to EUobserver, stating that after boats carrying migrants are intercepted at sea, the Libyan Coast Guard removes the motors and then sells them to smugglers.

To guarantee that its funds do not contravene its ‘Do No Harm’ principle, the commission has engaged the services of an outside contractor in Libya. Additionally, it states in public that the report’s funds have not resulted in any harm.

However, the Commission withholds the contractor’s identity and withholds important report details when pressed.

It now seeks to engage outside contractors in Tunisia to carry out the same task at some point this year, raising concerns about accountability for a commission that shuns public examination.

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