Three Years On, EU-Tunisia Deal Continues to Fuel Human Rights Violations
The joint statement “A Blueprint for Complicity,” co-signed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and 43 other organizations including many actors that are part of the civil fleet, marks the three-year anniversary of the European Union (EU) – Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on July 16, 2023.
The report delivers a scathing evaluation of the agreement, asserting that it has completely failed to safeguard the rights of refugees and migrants. Instead, the coalition argues that the EU’s financial and operational backing has directly fueled and normalized severe human rights violations, effectively transforming Tunisia into an authoritarian proxy for aggressive migration deterrence.
The core of the critique focuses on the EU’s “externalization” strategy, which mirrors past controversial models used in Libya. By funneling over €105 million into Tunisian border and coast guard operations, the EU has funded reckless and violent interceptions at sea, collective expulsions to desert border regions, and arbitrary detentions without individualized protection assessments.
Furthermore, the statement underscores that Tunisia cannot be legally considered a “place of safety” under international maritime law, especially since the Tunisian government suspended UNHCR asylum registrations in June 2024 and continues to criminalize irregular migration. Ultimately, the signatory groups demand that the European Commission immediately suspend all border and migration control support to Tunisian security forces to avoid further legal and moral complicity in these grave violations.
