Joint Statement of humanitarian organisations: Tunisia not a place of safety!

Tunesia is not a place of safety for people rescued from distress at sea!
Ahead of the Tunisian presidential elections, we are urging the EU and its member states together with other 62 NGOs, including Sea Watch, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to:
- end human rights violations against refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants by the Tunisian authorities!
- stop the crackdown on the civil society in Tunisia!
- cut all EU funding to Tunisian authorities complicit in human rights violations!
- not allow the disembarkation of refugees in Tunisia – Tunisia is not a place of safety for people rescued at sea!
“Refugees are not safe in Tunisia,” declares our political expert Marie Michel. “Human rights violations in Tunisia against people on the move have been documented in hundreds of cases, especially since spring 2023. There is no asylum system and no protection for refugees.”
Having established a Tunisian Search and Rescue Zone in June 2024, Europe must ensure that international law and human rights are followed – at sea and on Tunisian land! The EU’s increasing cooperation with Tunisia will further curtail the already shrinking humanitarian space in the Central Mediterranean, jeopardising our life-saving work as a non-governmental search and rescue organisation.
Read our joint statement now!