In Tunisia, a report entitled “The roads of torture” published Monday, December 18 by the World Organization Against Torture highlights the violence committed against migrants during the year 2023, after a polemical speech by President Kaïs Saïed on irregular migration.
In Tunisia, a report entitled “The roads of torture” published Monday, December 18 by the World Organization Against Torture highlights the violence committed against migrants during the year 2023, after a polemical speech by President Kaïs Saïed on irregular migration.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise
The conclusion of the report published Monday, December 18 by the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) is clear. Tunisia can no longer be considered a safe destination for migrants. At issue: the denial of access to justice for sub-Saharan migrants and the impunity of their attackers in the face of the numerous violations they have suffered this year.
Through mapping and compilation of testimonies and data, the organization documented two phases – July-August and September-October – of institutional and systematic violence against migrants.
The report draws up a typology of violations, the best known being the arbitrary and forced displacement to border areas this summer. But it also lists psychological and physical violence, police mistreatment, the inability to file a complaint, and the denial of human rights in the context of rising racism and xenophobia.
EU pressures
The study directly denounces the responsibility of Tunisian state authorities in the face of violence committed on the territory but also at the borders.
The international context has a lot to do with it since the study also notes that the country faces constant pressure from Europe to reduce irregular migration in the Mediterranean. Pushbacks at the borders and a security policy that do not prevent migratory flows into the country. More than a hundred migrants arrive in Tunisia every day via land borders.
