More than 100 African migrants intercepted at sea by the Tunisian National Guard were "deported to Algeria" in mid-September, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced on Tuesday (October 10th).
According to testimonies collected by the NGO, at least a hundred would-be emigrants "including children and possibly asylum seekers" were "collectively deported to the border with Algeria on 18 and 20 September" and left "without food or water".
'Dangerous change in Tunisian politics'
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These operations could signal a dangerous shift in Tunisian policy, as authorities previously used to release intercepted migrants," HRW said in a statement. According to the NGO, some migrants claimed that "National Guard agents beat them and stole their belongings, including phones, money and passports."
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Just two months after the latest mass and inhumane deportations of black African migrants and asylum seekers to the desert, Tunisian security forces have once again put people at risk, abandoning them in remote border areas," said Salsabil Chellali, HRW's country director for Tunisia. HRW said it could not verify whether these operations continued in October.
After a brawl in which a Tunisian man died on July 3 in the eastern city of Sfax, Tunisia's second-largest city and the epicentre of illegal departures this year, hundreds of African migrants were arrested and taken by Tunisian police to inhospitable areas on the borders with Libya to the east and Algeria to the west.
'Collective expulsions'
According to HRW, "more than 1300,<> migrants and asylum seekers" have been subjected to these "collective expulsions", which have drawn official protests from the UN Secretary-General in New York.
Other humanitarian sources told AFP there had been "more than 2000,27 deportations" and at least 73 people were killed in the Tunisian-Libyan desert and <> disappeared between July and early August.
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By transferring migrants to the border and pushing them towards Algeria, the Tunisian authorities have attempted collective expulsions, which are prohibited by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights," HRW said. Recalling an agreement reached on 16 July that provides for €105 million in EU aid to Tunisia to combat illegal immigration, HRW called on the EU to "stop all funding of the authorities responsible for these abuses".