Tunisian authorities must immediately overturn racist and xenophobic policies that have systematically excluded refugees and asylum seekers from protection, restore access to asylum procedures, halt unlawful collective expulsions and other forced returns, and stop repressing civil society organizations assisting refugees and asylum seekers, Amnesty International said today.
Since 2023, the Tunisian government has subjected refugees and asylum seekers, particularly Black people, to pervasive and serious human rights violations as part of a policy of racialized exclusion. Fueled by inflammatory rhetoric from officials, Tunisian authorities have carried out discriminatory arrests and detentions and collective expulsions of tens of thousands of people who are also subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
The crisis escalated in June 2024, when authorities ordered the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to suspend asylum registrations and refugee status determinations. This decision, which was not publicly communicated, has left thousands of marginalized people at further risk of human rights violations and abuse. This has taken place in the context of the EU’s externalization policy, through which it has stepped up support for Tunisia over migration control in an effort to deter migration to Europe despite mounting evidence of human rights violations.
