EU offers Tunisia aid package, seeks tighter border control
Al JazeeraJun 03, 2023
The Facts
On Tuesday, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination accused Tunisian authorities of expelling Black refugees and migrants to its borders with Libya and Algeria, despite signing a deal to curb migration to Europe.
Videos provided by NGOs and Libyan border agencies allegedly show hundreds of refugees and migrants being forced by Tunisian security services to walk, at gunpoint, into the desert without food or water.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Tunisia is blatantly committing horrific human rights violations against Black migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. EU member states must withhold their support for migration and border management under the recently signed MoU with Tunisia until a thorough human rights impact assessment is carried out.
Establishment-critical narrative
Tunisia should not be a reception ground for returning migrants. The country is facing economic issues and cannot support the hordes of migrants traveling to the nation. The EU needs to solve its migration problems instead of offloading them onto Tunisia, and illegal migrants must return to their countries of origin.
