Tunisia: UN expert alarmed by arrests and smear campaigns against migrant rights defenders

GENEVA – The arrest of migrant rights defenders and the general climate of hate speech and smear campaigns against them in Tunisia is further evidence that the country is backsliding in its commitment to the protection of human rights, a UN expert* said today.

“It is appalling to hear official statements accusing those who assist migrants, asylum seekers and refugees of being traitors and foreign agents,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human right defenders.

“This will only create fear and stigmatisation and may result in the suspension of life-saving activities, leaving hundreds of vulnerable persons in precarious conditions, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa who have been the target of attacks,” Lawlor said.

In early May, after interior ministers from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Italy met to discuss irregular migration, security forces expelled hundreds of migrants and refugees from the country. This included women, children and asylum seekers who had camped outside the offices of UNHCR and IOM.

This was quickly followed by the arrest and detention of Abderrazek Krimi and Mustafa Djemali, the project director and head of the Tunisian Refugee Council (TRC) respectively. They were interrogated by the criminal brigade police regarding the source of their organisation’s foreign funding, before being placed in custody and accused of illegally sheltering persons in Tunisia.

While not directly naming the two human rights defenders or the TRC, Tunisian President Kais Saied has accused leaders of organisations that assist and shelter “illegal migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa of “receiving enormous funds from abroad”, and of being “mostly traitors and foreign agents”.

The TRC, which works with UNHCR, launched a call for proposals in late April from hotels to shelter 57 unaccompanied migrant children from Sfax to Tunis, in coordination with the local governor. The call triggered a media smear campaign, which claimed that sheltering Africans in Tunisia threatened the country’s national security.

“The two migrant rights defenders were doing perfectly legitimate work and yet they are being held without trial in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, in total violation of international human rights conventions that Tunisia has ratified,” the Special Rapporteur said.

“Migrant rights defenders take huge risks to support internationally recognised human rights of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. They must be released and not treated as criminals,” she said.

The Special Rapporteur is in contact with Tunisian authorities on the issue and has urged them to ensure a safe environment for legitimate human rights defence work, free from intimidation, especially stressing the importance of putting any hate speech or threatening smear campaigns to an end.