13/11/2024 – 02/12/2024

  • On 26 November, the organization Refugees in Libya reported that hundreds of Black migrants in Jebeniana in Tunisia were attacked, tear-gassed, beaten, and robbed of their belongings. Many were injured but are being denied hospital care due to being Black migrants.
  • On 25 November, the European Ombudsman has identified maladministration in the Commission’s handling of a document request regarding the EU-Tunisia agreement and preparatory high-level meetings. The Ombudsman criticized the EC’s inadequate efforts to locate the records, highlighting the importance of improved transparency in EU migration policy.
  • On 19 November, the Italian online news site Fanpage.it reported that on 7 and 8 November, a boat carrying around 80 migrants was “rammed” by the Tunisian coastguard until it capsized, causing around 52 people to drown. The survivors were later either sold to Libya or deported to the desert. At least 13 women were among those abandoned in the desert. The Tunisian authorities have denied the allegations.
  • On 19 November, the Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Ambassadors of the EU Member States in Tunisia to discuss the strengthening of the partnership between Tunisia and the EU in various sectors. They underlined their willingness to strengthen programmes for the voluntary repatriation of migrants in an irregular situation in Tunisia to their countries of origin.
  • On 18 November, InfoMigrants revealed that arrests of sub-Saharan migrants on Tunisian streets have increased in recent months. Once arrested, they are convicted of “illegal residence” and imprisoned, often alongside hardened criminals sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
  • On 15 November, a boat leaving Libya with 51 people on board capsized off the coast of Tunisia. Some people were rescued by a fisherman who took them back to Sfax, and 15-16 people are missing, including 1 woman and 2 young children.
  • On 12 Novembre, five members of the NGO Children of the Medenine Moon, which supports migrants in Médenine, were arrested, with the organization’s founder transferred to the anti-terrorist unit. This marks the second wave of repression against those helping migrants, following the arrests last May of members from the Mémety association, Terre d’Asile, and the Tunisian Refugee Council.