APA-Tunis (Tunisia) A memorandum of understanding between Tunisia and the European Union over the fate of migrants hoping to reach Europe has come under sharp criticism from human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Monday.
Under the MoU, the EU has among other things agreed to give Tunisia financial and technical support to deter Europe-bound migration by mostly black African migrants.
Amnesty International’s Advocacy Director at the organization’s European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie described the agreement as “ill-judged agreement” coming against the backdrop of mounting evidence of serious human rights abuses by the Tunisian authorities.
The AI official said it ”will result in a dangerous expansion of already failed migration policies and signals EU acceptance of increasingly repressive behaviour by Tunisia’s president and government”.
Geddie added: “Coming against a backdrop of escalating violence and abuses against sub-Saharan African migrants by Tunisian authorities, the decision shows no lessons have been learned from previous similar agreements. This makes the European Union complicit in the suffering that will inevitably result”.
The AI official claimed that at the time the accord was being prepared, hundreds of people including children are stranded at Tunisia’s desert borders, initially without water, food or shelter.
“By focusing their policies and funding on containment and on outsourcing of border control rather than ensuring safe and legal routes for those trying to cross borders safely, EU leaders are once again embarking on failed policies that are based on callous disregard for basic human rights standards” Geddie added.
WN/as/APA