Yet another worrying setback in the Mediterranean
Yet another worrying setback for the safeguards in place for people seeking international protection in the European Union.
The European Parliament’s green light for the common European list of “safe third countries,” which includes Tunisia, externalises responsibility for and management of migration, undermines the Refugee Convention, and makes the EU complicit in human rights violations, when it should be preventing and combating them.
With this decision, the Tunisian authorities will retain carte blanche to carry out systematic violations against migrants, civil society, and the civic space as a whole, while continuing to benefit from substantial European funding without adequate guarantees on respect for human rights.
The EU-Tunisia Memorandum, which was presented in 2023 as a tool to strengthen cooperation on migration, has turned out to be a very costly pact focused primarily on containing departures and interceptions at sea, rather than on protecting people.
The core of the right to asylum in the EU is at risk. We call on European and national institutions to stop this process of dismantling safeguards, to respect international obligations, and to centre the protection of the fundamental rights of people seeking protection.