EU-Tunisia Cooperation: Migration Management and Human Rights Concerns

Introduction

Recently, an investigation by the Guardian newspaper revealed that European Union (EU) funds have been utilised to assist security personnel in Tunisia who are accused of committing widespread abuses against people on the move in Tunisia (Townsend, 2025). In October 2024, United Nations (UN) experts also submitted a report worrying about the human rights violations against migrants and refugees during search and rescue operations and transfers to border areas (Human Rights Watch,2023). 

UN experts report that migrants intercepted by Tunisian coast guards face severe mistreatment upon disembarkation, including physical abuse and forced transfers to remote borders without humanitarian aid (The Guardian, 2024). Despite risks of dehydration, malnutrition, and injuries, they are abandoned in the desert. Sexual violence is alarmingly high, with hundreds of Sub-Saharan women reportedly raped by security forces. Yasmine, a healthcare worker in Sfax, stated that “nine in ten” African female migrants arrested in the region experience sexual violence or torture (The Guardian, 2024).

Background 

Tunisia is the only country that overthrew an authoritarian ruler during the 2011 Arab Spring (a series of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that took place in the Middle East and North Africa at the beginning of 2010 and 2011) and started building a democracy (Zeidan, 2025). The incoming “transitional government” allowed the formation of new political parties, which started to collide, negotiate, and finally cooperate and compromise to ensure a stable transition. In January 2014, the Constituent Assembly voted to approve a constitution that seemed to be acceptable to all sides. However, after the elections later that year failed to give any party a dominant position, the largest parties from each side formed a unity government. The partisanship of the parliament was unable to enact legislation or even nominate members to a constitutional court. When no judicial body could break a stalemate between the parliament and the president, the court remained vacant, and the country was thrown into a constitutional crisis. 

Kais Saied ran in 2019 elections. He became well-known as a constitutional law specialist in Tunisia and a popular public figure thanks to his strong presence on social media. Many Tunisians believed that he could repair a dysfunctional political system, a factor that led to him winning the elections and becoming president. In September 2021, he invoked an emergency provision in the constitution and he suspended the parliament (Al Jazeera, 2023). In July 2022, a new one was submitted to a referendum. The new constitution was put to a vote with neither public debate nor input from the opposition. After the vote was certified, the new constitution took effect, putting Tunisia back under a presidential administration with severely constrained parliamentary and judicial branches. In 2024, President Saied won a second term in a landslide result after five opposition parties called for a boycott, saying the vote would neither be free nor fair. Meanwhile, it is important to note that since the revolt that overthrew the long-time ruler in 2011, Tunisians have endured more than a decade of economic crisis. The financial crisis has been characterised by ongoing shortages of basic foods. According to official data, in May 2023, unemployment increased to 16.1 percent in the first quarter from 15.2 in the fourth quarter, while inflation hit ten percent (BBC News, 2024). In addition, according to estimates, the nation’s debt represents almost 80 percent of its gross domestic product. 

EU engagement to Tunisia 

Following the 2011 Revolution, the European Union (EU) pledged to support Tunisians in their pursuit of greater freedom, democracy, and social justice. In the wake of these transformative events, the EU and Tunisia – natural allies due to their geographical proximity, cultural ties, and strong trade links – formalised a Privileged Partnership Agreement in 2012. However, over time, the nature of EU-Tunisia relations has shifted notably towards securitisation, with an increasing emphasis on security cooperation, border control, and counter-terrorism measures.

This shift has been further influenced by Tunisia’s ongoing political and economic instability. The country’s economic difficulties, high unemployment rates, social unrest, and President Kais Saied’s inflammatory rhetoric against Sub-Saharan African migrants have all contributed to a surge in irregular departures from Tunisia. Migration flows to Europe, particularly to Italy, have been significantly affected. As of mid-May 2023, over 25,000 migrants had arrived on Italian shores, with at least 3,500 of them holding Tunisian passports, according to figures from the Italian Ministry of Interior. Additionally, a 2022 Arab Barometer study revealed that 45 percent of Tunisians expressed a willingness to emigrate, underscoring the depth of the crisis (Brown, 2024).

In response to these developments, the EU has substantially increased its financial and strategic engagement with Tunisia. Since 2011, the EU has provided Tunisia with over two billion euros in grants and 14 billion euros in loans to support various sectors. In 2018, the Border Management Programme for the Maghreb Region was launched, aiming to address vulnerabilities linked to irregular migration and to strengthen border security. This initiative followed the establishment of the EU-Tunisia Mobility Partnership in March 2014, which sought to facilitate the movement of people between the EU and Tunisia while promoting the responsible management of migration flows, including through simplified visa procedures (European Ombudsman, 2024).

Most recently, in July 2023, the EU and Tunisia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) (referred to as the “migration deal”) as part of the EU’s broader efforts to curb irregular migration into its territory. The MoU outlines five key areas of cooperation: macroeconomic stability, economic development and trade, the green energy transition, people-to-people contacts, and migration and mobility. Under this agreement, the EU committed to providing 105 million euros to strengthen Tunisia’s border control capabilities, alongside facilitating legal pathways for highly skilled Tunisian workers. Additionally, 150 million euros were allocated in direct budgetary support to help mitigate Tunisia’s soaring inflation. In return, Tunisia agreed to enhance its cooperation with the EU in critical areas such as combating migrant smuggling and human trafficking, conducting search and rescue operations within its designated maritime borders, and readmitting its nationals who are irregularly present in EU member states—an obligation that also exists under customary international law.

The EU-Tunisia MoU has been greatly denounced by civil society organisations and several members of the European Parliament, given the recorded abuses and hostilities against migrants by Tunisian authorities amid a wider democratic crisis. Although “respect for human rights” is mentioned in passing in the MoU, it is not made clear how the Commission plans to guarantee adherence to basic rights. The European Ombudsman, an EU body that looks into cases of poor management by EU institutions, was concerned about the agreement and asked the European Commission how it intended to monitor the human rights impact of actions under the MoU. 

Human Rights Violations Committed by EU-Financed Security Forces

The human rights violations committed by Tunisian authorities have been documented by international organisations and human rights journals and groups. The violations include sexual violence against women and girls, forceful detention, and relocation, as well as physical abuse to vulnerable communities. 

According to an article published in the Guardian, Tunisian’s national guard funded by the EU has been regularly torturing and raping migrants and refugees. According to an individual who set up a healthcare organisation in Sfax, hundreds of Sub-Saharan migrant women have been raped by Tunisian security forces. Moussa, a 28-year-old man from Guinea who was in one of the boats intercepted off Sfax, witnessed the mass rape of migrant women by security forces in Tunisia. He said that the security forces were methodically raping the women, ignoring the thousands of witnesses that were hearing the screams and cries of the women and dismissing that many women were pregnant or they were carrying their babies. “Nine in ten of all African female migrants arrested around Sfax experience sexual violence or “torture” by security forces”, reports a source in the Guardian. 

In addition, Human Rights Watch reported that the national guard and military expelled and forcibly transferred individuals in several groups to the Libyan and Algerian borders. In the meantime, people interviewed by the Human Rights Watch said that officers beat and abused them during expulsions. They throw away their food, destroy their phones and passports, and abandon them in the desert, where they do not know where to go. Other interviewed people reported that they faced pullbacks (forced returns) by coastal guards in an effort to start their sea journey in Europe. The coast guards, trying to prevent people from leaving the country outside of the official border crossing, were taking the boat motor,s leaving people stranded at sea, causing waves, overturning migrant boats, and hitting them with batons. 

Another alarming issue is the accusation of cooperation of members of the Tunisian coast guard with smugglers and the regular “desert dumps”. There have been reports that the Tunisian National Guard has been forcefully transferring and abandoning migrants to borders with Algeria and Libya without access to humanitarian treatment (Lighthouse Reports, 2024). Investigations by organisations such as the Lighthouse Reports have revealed that Europe actively participates in, funds, and supports covert operations in North African nations that dump tens of thousands of Sub-Saharan migrants annually in the desert or other remote locations in order to keep them from entering the EU. These people are left in the middle of nowhere without any assistance, leaving them at risk of kidnapping, extortion, torture, sexual violence, and in the worst instance, death. Others are sent to border regions where it is said that the authorities sell them to gangs and human traffickers who torture them in exchange for ransom.

Sources & Further Readings:

BBC News. (2024, October 9). Tunisia country profile. Accessed on 12 February 2025 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14107241

Brown, L. C., Clarke, J. I., Barbour, N., Talbi, M., & Murphy, E. (2025, February 11). Tunisia | History, Map, flag, population, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on 10 February 2025. https://www.britannica.com/place/Tunisia/Government-and-society 

European Ombudsman. Decision on how the European Commission intends to guarantee respect for human rights in the context of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding. Accessed on 10 February 2025   https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/decision/en/193851

Jazeera, A. (2023, June 12). Why is the EU offering Tunisia a financial assistance package? Al Jazeera. Accessed on 11 February 2025 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/12/why-is-the-eu-offering-tunisia-a-financial-assistance-package

Lighthouse Reports. (2024b, October 10). Desert dumps – Lighthouse reports. Accessed on 12 February 2025 https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/desert-dumps/ 

Reporter, G. S. (2024, September 19). The brutal truth behind Italy’s migrant reduction: beatings and rape by EU-funded forces in Tunisia. The Guardian. Accessed on 9 February 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/sep/19/italy-migrant-reduction-investigation-rape-killing-tunisia-eu-money-keir-starmer-security-forces-smugglers

Townsend, M. (2025, January 24). Europe overhauls funding to Tunisia after Guardian exposes migrant abuse. The Guardian. Accessed on 9 February 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/24/eu-human-rights-tunisia-migrant-security-forces-migration 

Tunisia: No safe haven for Black African migrants, refugees. (2023, July 19). Human Rights Watch. Accessed on 10 February 2025 https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/19/tunisia-no-safe-haven-black-african-migrants-refugees 

Zeidan, A. (2025, February 8). Kais Saied | President, Tunisia, & New Constitution. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on 11 February 2025 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kais-Saied 

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