Tunisia requested, this Wednesday, March 1, through the Minister of the Interior, Taoufik Charfeddine, the support of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, meeting on its soil, following “the unjustified and without precedent, to which it is subject for having expressed a sovereign position”.
The Minister alluded to the string of criticisms addressed to the Tunisian authorities, following the position expressed by the President of the Republic, during the meeting of the National Security Council, on the influx of irregular sub-Saharan migrants to our regions.
In a speech delivered at the opening of the CMIA, in its 40th session, broadcast live on the Council’s website, the Minister of the Interior focused on “the security threats and challenges facing our region, including the surge of clandestine migrants towards the European space through the Arab countries”.
In front of his counterparts in the region, an audience of senior security officials and representatives of regional, international and UN organizations, the minister affirmed that “Tunisia had never ceased to call for a global approach supporting migration based on respect for human rights combining security, development and justice dimensions”.
“Rerratic international context”
“Our Arab region is plagued by immense security challenges, in an unstable and erratic international context”, he warned, calling “to redouble efforts and strengthen cooperation between Arab apparatuses, bodies and organizations, regional and international levels, with a view to achieving a comprehensive and multidimensional approach”, in the face of the security, climate and development challenges facing the region.
Taoufik Charfeddine urged his Arab peers to consolidate communication channels with various countries and regional and international bodies to support the global effort, able to preserve stability, security and peace in the world.
In the preamble, the minister praised Tunisia as a “meeting ground and confluence of civilizations”. “This meeting is taking place in Tunisia, a country of moderation, freedom, democracy and the rule of law, which is open to everyone. Tunisia which has internalized the culture of the recognition of the other, which reaches out to the other and which shelters the other in accordance with the laws, conventions and international treaties”.
According to him, “this meeting aims to examine the ways and means to enable us to strengthen cooperation and carry this deposit ( الآمانة ), which is that of achieving the security of our homelands, which leads to preserving , security, freedom and human dignity”.
“The purpose of all human action is to preserve man, and the humanity of man. Whether he is at fault or victim, man will remain man, it is the beginning and the end,” he concluded on a lyrical note.
