APA – Tunis (Tunisia) – UN experts have expressed their concern to the Tunisian government at reports of racist treatment and collective expulsions targeting sub-Saharan migrants.
In recent months, several Tunisian towns have been the scene of clashes between local populations and transit migrants from countries south of the Sahara. Numerous videos are circulating on social networks, showing the inhumane treatment inflicted on would-be crossers of the Mediterranean.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, UN experts said they were “concerned” by Tunisia’s allegedly discriminatory treatment of sub-Saharan migrants. They urged the authorities to take urgent measures to put an end to collective expulsions and protect the human rights of all migrants.
“Collective expulsions are prohibited by international law,” said the UN experts, quoted in the note.” Expelling migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers without carrying out an individual and objective assessment of the risks of their exposure to human rights violations upon return amounts to refoulement, prohibited by international human rights law,” they recall.
According to the UN experts, the principle of non-refoulement, enshrined in international human rights law, applies to all forms of expulsion, regardless of nationality or migratory status. They stressed that targeting migrants and asylum seekers on the basis of their skin color also violates the prohibition of racial
discrimination under international law.
“We are also deeply concerned by reports of racist hate speech in the country and reports of violence against migrants in Sfax, including perpetrated by law enforcement officials,” they said, adding that “racial hate speech that constitutes incitement to discrimination has real consequences, including violence.”
The experts, who say they are in contact with the authorities on these issues, called on the Tunisian government to take immediate steps to end racist hate speech in the country, protect sub-Saharan migrants from violence, investigate reported acts of violence and ensure access to justice and remedies for victims, as also recommended by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its statement of March 31, 2023.
They are also calling on Tunis to continue and extend humanitarian access to a dangerous area on the Tunisian-Libyan border from where many people, including pregnant women and children, have already been
expelled.
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