EuroMed Rights - 02/04/2025

On 11 April, Tunisian Interior Minister Khaled Nouri travelled to Naples to participate in the second meeting of the Steering Committee on the Voluntary Return of Irregular Migrants to their Countries of Origin. The ministers discussed the mechanisms to be put in place to facilitate what they call the “voluntary return” of migrants. On this occasion, Khaled Nouri reaffirmed Tunisia’s supposed commitment to human rights, while declaring that Tunisian territory should not be used as a transit zone for trafficked persons.
On 10 April, following clashes in makeshift camps in El-Amra, a young Guinean man lost his life. The clashes also left dozens injured. Tarak Mahdi, an elected official in a commune near Sfax, said the violence began on April 8 and that those involved clashed “with stones, machetes and bladed weapons.” You can read the press release published by Euromed Rights here.
On 6 April, the Federation of Tunisian Citizens of the Two Shores (FTCR) expressed deep concern over the increase in deportations of Tunisian nationals from Italy, France and Germany. These expulsions, often forced and violent, are carried out in silence, in the service of the European return policy. Currently, more than 20,000 Tunisians are believed to be detained in detention centers in Italy. In February 2025, Germany organized a collective expulsion to Enfidha airport, in total opacity, illustrating the trivialization of these practices.
On 6 April, President Kais Saied said that the treatment of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa would supposedly be based on humanitarian and ethical principles. At the same time, he reaffirmed the refusal to make Tunisia a transit country, announcing the organization of their evacuation. These statements are part of a policy that is both negrophobic and anti-migratory carried out by the government.
On 5 April, Houssemeddine Jebali, spokesperson for the General Directorate of the National Guard, announced that units had been working for several days to repatriate the so-called irregular migrants living in the Henchir Ben Farhat camp. According to him, the health and environmental situation in olive plantations is dangerous. In total, 4000 migrants were forced to leave the premises. The authorities used bulldozers and then burned migrants’ belongings, food, access to water and medical care.
At the beginning of April, the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) denounced the physical and psychological violence inflicted on Tunisian migrants in Europe. She stressed that these abuses are contrary to the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights, and called on the Tunisian authorities to intervene.

02/04/2025 – 24/04/2025

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