Because of its geographical position and proximity to the European coast, Tunisia has long been considered a major transit country for sub-Saharan migrants. However, heightened security measures and the militarization of the European Union’s borders, as well as border outsourcing policies, have turned Tunisia into a country of settlement for many people in situation of migration.
Tunisia does not have a national migration strategy nor an adequate legisltavie framework in line with international asylum standards. Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers thus face a worrying legal void. This shortcoming in public policy, combined with an extremely repressive legal framework and an unprecedented rise in discriminatory and xenophobic discourse, have contributed to triggering a major crisis that led to an explosion in human rights violations against migrants in 2023.
An outpouring of hatred towards people situation of migration: racism and xenophobia in broad daylight
Racist and hateful rhetoric has surged on social media, major campaigns of incitement of hatred and violence towards people in migration have led to the President of the Republic delivering a speech endorsing racist and xenophobic rhetoric, associating migration with a plot to alter the country’s demographic composition and threatening its Arab-Muslim identity (February 21, 2023).
He also established a link between the presence of sub-Saharan migrants and Tunisia’s rising crime rate, leading to a wave of xenophobic violence against sub-Saharan migrants, as well as police arrests and mass expulsions.
As a result of this campaign, hundreds of people found themselves on the streets, driven from their homes and workplaces, and forced to move back to their countries of origin under the pretext of voluntary return. Several cases of kidnapping, public lynching and rape have been recorded.
ASF’s lawyers and partners have made a number of alarming observations concerning the treatment of migrants during this crisis: racial profiling, arbitrary arrests even for legally resident migrants, and arrests at workplaces or during raids in neighborhoods with a high migrant population. In addition, ASF’s lawyers have noted a number of procedural flaws during police custody, including the absence of translators, the use of identical hearing minutes for different situations, and the failure to carry out the obligatory medical examination for certain migrants who are injured or suffering from health problems. These practices raise serious concerns about respect for the fundamental rights of migrants and the fairness of legal proceedings.
In early July 2023, a second crisis erupted, this time centered around the Sfax region. Turned away by the Tunisian authorities, hundreds of people, including pregnant women and young children, found themselves trapped in a desert area under military control, known as a buffer zone along the Tunisian-Libyan border. They endured several days without access to water, food or medical care, under a blazing sun with temperatures approaching 47°, without any associations, or even residents close to the border zone, being able to come to their aid due to access bans imposed by the authorities.
ASF intervention:
1- Referencing mechanism and legal aid:
As part of the Promitad project, ASF provided a total of 179 legal consultations for migrants and vulnerable Tunisians. This inclusive approach reflects ASF’s commitment to protecting rights and promoting access to justice for all, regardless of origin or status.
Since the beginning of the crisis in February 2023, ASF has provided associations, activists and campaigners with a referral mechanism so that they can rapidly report human rights violations suffered by migrants, and thus enable ASF to rapidly and effectively deploy its legal aid system.
As part of this initiative, a referral and orientation unit has been set up, in coordination with our partners in the Promitad project and beyond. Focus points have been set up to handle telephone enquiries and gather information on legal and social needs, particularly in terms of accommodation. Following this, recourse to the legal support mechanism is ensured by a pool of lawyers, spread across different regions of the country. More than 20 lawyers have been mobilized and deployed on an emergency basis to provide effective support to migrants arbitrarily arrested and victims of serious human rights violations during this unprecedented crisis.
Thanks to the monitoring mechanism set up by ASF, we were able to record and document over 900 arrests of migrants in several regions, including Greater Tunis, Sfax, Sousse, Médenine, Le Kef, Kasserine and Bizerte, during the crisis of February and March 2023.
The crise of July 2023
During the July 2023 crisis, ASF maintained close coordination with its partners in the Sfax and Médenine region, in particular with the association Tunisie Terre d’Asile, Médecins du Monde, the national and regional offices of the Ligue Tunisienne de défense des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), and the office of the Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD).
The pool of ASF’s lawyers deployed in Sfax undertook essential emergency actions for 33 beneficiaries, including legal consultation sessions, 10 accompaniments during preliminary investigations (including 7 in cases of aggression against migrants), 5 legal assistances for a large number of migrants before the Sfax court of first instance, and 6 representations before the cantonal court. ASF lawyers, in coordination with LTDH regional sections, also visited several prisons to identify detained migrants reported missing by their relatives.
ASF had estimated that some 350 migrants were being held in Sfax civil prison following a wave of arrests during the July crisis. They were prosecuted for illegal entry and residence.
2- Coordination and best practice exchange meetings:
In order to promote optimal, coordinated and multi-sectoral care for migrants, ASF organized exchange and coordination meetings during the two crises, bringing together the main actors involved in protecting migrants in Tunisia, as well as partner civil society organizations. The aim of these meetings was to find practical solutions to respond rapidly and effectively to this humanitarian crisis.
At the same time, best practice analysis meetings were launched, with the participation of lawyers from the ASF pool and lawyers from other organizations, to discuss the challenges encountered in the legal and judicial handling of migrants during the first crisis, and the procedural flaws identified, in order to ensure a more effective defense strategy and support adapted to the judicial harassment and violations of which they are victims.
3- Complaints filed with CERD:
ASF also took the initiative of submitting a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), concerning “violations of the rights of migrants in Tunisia and discriminatory actions against them”. This complaint was sent on February 24, 2023, and updated on March 13 and July 11, 2023.
Following the first complaint filed, CERD issued a statement on March 31, 2023 concerning hate speech directed against sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia, triggering an early warning and urgent action procedure. The statement includes a number of requests to the Tunisian authorities, notably to ensure effective compliance with international human rights obligations, to put an immediate end to collective arrests and detentions of migrants, to release without delay those arbitrarily detained (in particular women and children), to allow migrants to apply for asylum, to establish a national refugee status determination mechanism, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement.
