Tunisia | March 13, 2023
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As reported by Al-Jazeera on 17 July 2023, a “strategic partnership” has been signed by the European Union and Tunisia. In exchange for the considerable sum of 100 million euros, Tunisia will combat further irregular migration to the EU. The support also includes a program to improve access to the EU countries for Tunisian students and expatriate workers.
World Watch Research analyst Michael Bosch comments: “This deal is one of the most hypocritical ever made in the region. Tunisia has been a struggling democracy for a decade, but EU countries have done almost nothing in the past to offer economical support or other means to help strengthen the country’s democracy. Admittedly, the political division and rampant corruption in the past had spoken against such investment, but rewarding President Saied with this ‘partnership’ for returning Tunisia to dictatorship is one of the worst signs the EU can give the Middle East and all the activists, journalists and human rights defenders in those countries striving for democracy. Earlier in the year, President Saied had caused a marked increase in illegal migration to EU countries, when he held a speech in February 2023 accusing Sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia of being part of a ‘criminal plot’ to ‘change the demography of Tunisia’ (WWR, 15 March 2023). What followed was the mistreatment of hundreds of migrants by racist mobs - and now this behavior is being rewarded by the EU.”
Michael Bosh continues: “This new deal fits the pattern in which EU countries have made immense financial agreements in the past in the hope of keeping migrants away from their shores. It started with Turkey, Libya followed next (despite ‘evidence of criminal activity and systematic human rights violations by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard’ - ECRE, 14 July 2023), and now it’s Tunisia’s turn. It is a pattern in which EU leaders can pass the responsibility for upholding human rights to local authorities in North Africa, knowing full well that the only way to keep migrants away is by violating their human rights. Put bluntly, the rich EU leaders are prepared to pay what it takes to be able to wash their hands of the misery and death many poor migrants in Tunisia are now likely to face. Already there are reports of Sub-Saharan African migrants being driven into the desert without food, water or shelter (nu.nl, 16 July 2023).
Michael Bosch adds: “Many of the migrants, especially the Sub-Saharan Africans, are Christian. For them, the new ‘partnership’ with Tunisia will mean more hardship. The EU has opted for short-term measures in an attempt to solve the migrant crisis, but the root causes of political instability and devastating economic inequality have nowhere been addressed.”
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