It seems no lessons were learned from the EU’s cooperation with Libya, where the bloc’s support for Libyan security forces has made it complicit in an infrastructure of abuse against migrants and refugees, including torture, rape, enforced disappearances, unlawful killings and arbitrary detention. A recent U.N. investigation found that this may even amount to crimes against humanity.
Agreements aiming to contain people in non-EU countries don’t save lives, nor do they reduce people’s reliance on irregular routes. Rather, people on the move are forced to take more dangerous routes to avoid interception by authorities, while smugglers profit as refugees and other migrants increasingly rely on their services. Moreover, such agreements do nothing to resolve the problems that lead people to migrate in the first place, in search of safety or security, which will continue to occur regardless. Therefore, it is disappointing that in her “10-Point Plan for Lampedusa” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen doubled down on the Tunisia deal.
Additionally, the EU’s agreement with Tunisia also risks legitimizing Saied’s assault on rule of law and his ever-increasing repression of dissent. In the lead-up to the deal, European leaders grew increasingly silent as the Tunisian president dismantled nearly all institutional checks on executive power, issued decrees restricting free speech and granted himself powers over the judiciary. The Tunisian authorities subjected scores of critics, opponents, lawyers, journalists and judges to arbitrary criminal investigation and restrictive measures, or jailed them.
The country also recently denied entry to five MEPs who had been due to visit the country on official duty. Among them were MEPs Mounir Satouri and Michael Gahler, who had previously spoken out against the deal due to the crackdown in Tunisia. The denial of entry was widely seen as retaliation.
As European leaders shake Tunisian President Kais Saied’s hand, hundreds of refugees and migrants are stranded in the country’s desert border areas with Libya | Pool photo by Johanna Geron/AFP via Getty Images
Once hailed as the success story of the Arab Spring protests and a former hub for human rights defenders from across North Africa, Tunisia now risks following Egypt’s path, which saw its President Abdelfattah al-Sisi turn his country into an open-air prison, while overseeing the impoverishment of millions of Egyptians. EU leaders were largely silent during his brutal crackdown as al-Sisi blocked migration routes from Egypt to Europe, forcing thousands to migrate across the deadly Libya route instead.
Finally, perhaps knowing the agreement would increase the risk of human rights violations against migrants and refugees, the Commission chose to negotiate the MoU in secret. The negotiations took place without the scrutiny of the European Parliament, national parliaments or any involvement from civil society.
Source link : https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-team-europe-tunisia-president-kais-saied-ybia-refugee-migrant-crisis/
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Publish date : 2023-09-21 07:00:00
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