European Union should move beyond the security and border control discourse with Tunisia, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, has said.
He advised the EU to further develop the Migration and Mobility Partnership currently being negotiated with Tunisia by concentrating on the respect, protection and promotion of the human rights of migrants.
“A large majority of regional migration initiatives coming from the EU continue to be focused on issues of border control, and do not consider important issues such as the facilitation of regular migration channels,” Mr. Crépeau said after his recent visit to Tunisia.
“I encourage the European authorities to develop a more nuanced policy of migration cooperation with Tunisia, which moves beyond security issues to develop new initiatives in consultation and in real partnership with Tunisian authorities, which place at their core the respect, protection and promotion of the human rights of migrants,” he said.
The Special Rapporteur also urged EU member states to take all necessary measures to rescue migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, including rescuing ships and taking those on board to a safe port of disembarkation, and intensify its efforts to search for the 300 Tunisians who are reported to have disappeared in the Mediterranean.
Mr. Crépeau also drew attention to the situation of migrants in Tunisia, and expressed concern that irregular border crossing remains a criminal offence in the country, contravening fundamental principles of human rights including the right to leave one’s country.
“Whilst the Tunisian authorities insist that this is not regularly applied against Tunisians, I learned of cases where it was in fact used, including against foreigners entering Tunisia irregularly, and who were subsequently imprisoned for the alleged offence,” he said. “I also met with an unaccompanied minor who had been charged with crossing the border into Tunisia illegally, and sentenced to nine days prison.”
The rights expert also noted that there is no adequate refugee status determination procedure in Tunisia. “The establishment of a clear asylum determination procedure, would protect the rights of these vulnerable individuals, and may better facilitate the early recognition of certain categories of migrants crossing the border into Tunisia who may be deserving of refugee protection.”
Migrants who either find themselves without valid documents or who have served a prison sentence are often sent to ‘centres d’accueil et d’orientation’ in order to be deported. “As long as persons are deprived of their liberty in these facilities, they are in fact detention centres,” Mr. Crépeau stressed. “I am particularly concerned that minors are held in these centres as well. Detention should be a measure of last resort, alternatives to detention should be developed, and detention should certainly never be applied against unaccompanied minors.”
