“This law is just populism dressed up as policy,” said The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights. [Getty]
In Tunisia, lawmakers are deliberating a draft law that would permit the deportation of “irregular” migrants to their home countries, amid a surge in anti-migrant sentiment and the spread of xenophobic conspiracy theories.Â
The move follows government claims last year of success in the “voluntary” repatriation of more than 7,000 migrants. However, rights groups have expressed concern that the proposed legislation could violate international migration agreements, to which Tunisia is a signatory.
Currently under review in Tunisia‘s parliament, the bill outlines a legal framework for deportations, such as exemptions for migrants who face the threat of torture or inhumane treatment in their home countries, and the possibility for migrants to appeal deportation orders in administrative courts, according to local media reports.
In a press statement, the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights has slammed the proposal as unethical and contradictory, accusing the government of using the bill as a backdoor to formalise its ongoing practice of forced deportations.
By the end of 2024, government figures estimate that over 20,000 irregular migrants from 22 African countries were living in the Sfax Al-Amra district.
Despite a sharp decline in new arrivals—migration flows into Tunisia fell by 64 percent last year, with land border crossings dropping by 84 percent—critics argue that Tunisia is already engaging in forced deportation under the guise of European cooperation.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights argues that many migrants, faced with harsh living conditions, are left with little option but to “voluntarily” return, often with EU financial support.
“This law is just populism dressed up as policy,” said Ramadhan Ben Omar, a forum spokesperson, to The New Arab.
Since 2023, reports have emerged of migrants enduring prison-like conditions in Tunisian reception centres, where they allege they were coerced into signing deportation papers under emotional and physical abuses.
This crackdown followed President Kais Saied’s infamous speech in 2023, in which he claimed the arrival of “hordes of clandestine migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa is part of a plot to “change the demographic composition” of Tunisia.
Tunisia’s crackdown on migrants
Saied’s inflammatory rhetoric, invoking a grand replacement theory, fuelled widespread violence against Black migrants, who were evicted from homes and lost their jobs. Even those not aligned with the xenophobic narrative feared investigations for offering assistance to migrants.
In 2024, Tunisian authorities forcibly abandoned hundreds of migrants at the desert borders of the Sahara, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Investigations by both local and international groups have since uncovered disturbing reports of abuse, including the rape of hundreds of migrants by Tunisia’s national guard, the beating of children, and complicity with human traffickers.
The crackdown on migrants extended beyond violence at the border.
Tunisian authorities also arrested last year at least six prominent migrant rights activists, accusing them of harbouring foreigners illegally and accepting foreign funding.Â
Struggling to survive, many migrants have taken refuge on the outskirts of Sfax, where they remain scattered in camps plagued by disease. Cholera, malnutrition, and a lack of medical care are widespread, according to migrants in the area.
“We can’t even go to the hospital. They will arrest us,” said Abdelaziz, a Malian migrant in Sfax who uses his medical expertise to treat fellow migrants.Â
Abdelaziz, along with others, expressed growing frustration over what they see as a global indifference to their suffering. “Nothing seems enough for them to see that we’re just trying to live,” he told TNA.
In 2023, the EU committed €105 million to bolster Tunisia‘s border control infrastructure, as part of a broader effort to manage migration flows.Â
Despite mounting evidence of human rights abuses, the EU has defended its partnership with Tunisia, arguing that it has one of the most advanced systems for monitoring human rights violations in the region.
Nevertheless, the EU acknowledged earlier this month the need for clearer safeguards, and is in the process of drafting “concrete” conditions to ensure that Tunisia meets human rights standards.
For now, the future of the proposed Tunisian law—and the fate of the migrants it affects—remain uncertain.
