GENEVA: Tunisia has scaled down its protection of migrants’ rights with arrests of rights activists, United Nations human rights special rapporteur Mary Lawlor said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The arrest of migrant rights defenders and the general climate of hate speech and smear campaigns against them in Tunisia is further evidence that the country is backsliding in its commitment to the protection of human rights,” the statement said.
Lawlor decried “official statements accusing those who assist migrants, asylum seekers and refugees of being traitors and foreign agents.”
Tunisia and neighboring Libya have become key departure points for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, seeking better lives in Europe by risking perilous Mediterranean crossings, often in makeshift boats.
Lawlor denounced the recent arrests of migrant rights activists Abderrazek Krimi and Mustafa Djemali from the Tunisian Refugee Council, which Djemali heads.
She said police interrogated them about “the source of their organization’s foreign funding,” before they were detained for “illegally sheltering persons in Tunisia.”
The rapporteur said both Krimi and Djemali “were doing perfectly legitimate work,” and that their arrest was a “violation of international human rights conventions” ratified by Tunisia.
“This will only create fear and stigmatization,” depriving “hundreds of vulnerable persons in precarious conditions, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa” of “life-saving activities,” the statement said.
The Tunisian Refugee Council supports the UN High Commissioner for Refugees agency (UNHCR) with migrant and refugee protection programs, and helps to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
In May, President Kais Saied lashed out at organizations that defend the rights of sub-Saharan migrants in the country.
Authorities had waged a campaign against NGOs helping sub-Saharan African migrants living in or transiting Tunisia.
Saied had cited what he called suspicious foreign funding intended to undermine the North African country, with the recipients of such funds deemed “traitors and mercenaries.”
A wave of arrests ensued, including of Saadia Mosbah, head of the Mnemty anti-racism association, who is still behind bars after being accused of money laundering.
Lawlor said Tunisian migrant rights defenders were taking “huge risks to support internationally recognized human rights of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.”
In a speech last year, Saied denounced what he called “hordes of illegal migrants” as a demographic threat to Tunisia.
His speech sparked violence against sub-Saharan Africans, hundreds of whom lost their jobs and homes, with many forced out of the main cities.