Last Sunday’s EU leaders’ visit to Tunisia paved the way for an agreement on the model of the EU-Turkey deal of 2016. But just like Turkey, Tunisia is not a safe country, and sending back there the asylum seekers who arrive on our shores would stand against EU values, writes Gaia Romeo.
Gaia Romeo is a PhD researcher at the Brussels School of Governance.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte joined Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on a visit to Tunisia last weekend. Among the many topics touched upon – including economic cooperation, trade and energy – an important spot was dedicated to migration and border management cooperation.
And this is particularly alarming in the context of the speeding up negotiations on the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, at least for the human rights of asylum seekers arriving on our shores. It seems the EU, guided by Italy, wants to make Tunisia its new gatekeeper.
But Tunisia is not a safe country for asylum seekers, and securing an agreement on the model of the EU-Turkey deal of 2016 would mark another step in the ongoing, worrying process of pushing down the EU standards of refugee protection.
A few days before the official visit, the Council of the EU adopted a negotiated position on two key files of the Pact, including the new proposed regulation on asylum procedures.
EU ministers reach 'historic' deal on migrant relocation
EU home affairs ministers reached a migration deal described as ‘historic’ by officials that would see EU states pay €20,000 for each migrant that they refuse to host.
In the system foreseen by this proposal, a particularly important role would be played by the “safe third country” concept, which permits EU states to send asylum seekers back to non-EU countries with a “connection”.
Reportedly, Italy’s approval of the files was subject to adopting an amendment allowing EU countries to decide independently – and not anymore at an EU level – which third countries they can generally consider as “safe”. In the actual formulation, instead, the emphasis is on whether a country can be regarded as safe for an asylum seeker.
Since 2020, Italy has consistently strengthened its migration cooperation with Tunisia and has sensibly increased the return of its nationals to the country. Having depicted Tunisia as “safe” for its citizens, Italy, backed by the EU, appears now ready to take the leap of sending asylum seekers originating from other countries back there.
Tunisia is on the verge of economic collapse, and the EU pledged to disburse more than €1.5 billion to support the country in different fields. It is not unreasonable to think that the country would accept taking back some asylum seekers in exchange for more financial help.
But as much as Turkey could doubtfully be considered a safe third country, so is the case of Tunisia. The country does not meet any of the human rights criteria set by the old and new proposed EU legislation: Tunisia does not have asylum legislation, which is not sufficiently compensated by the UNHCR action in registering and recognising refugees.
Migrants are arbitrarily detained and frequently refouled and deported to their countries of origin or to countries like Libya, where they risk being tortured and killed. As Tunisia turns back into authoritarianism, we can expect that the treatment of migrants will only worsen in the years to come.
EU must sanction Tunisia's Saied say families of jailed opposition leaders
The European Commission has been urged to use its international human rights regime to impose sanctions on the Tunisian president and several leading ministers in his government amid growing concern about the collapse of democratic and political freedom in the North African state.
Moreover, the decision on whether Tunisia could qualify as a safe third country for certain asylum seekers would be taken in contesting the new compulsory border procedures introduced by the Pact.
In practice, asylum seekers would have their application assessed very quickly and in de facto detention at border posts.
These kinds of procedures have already been used in the past by some member states and are known to systematically violate the guarantees set by EU law.
In early 2021, the European Parliament adopted a report which severely warns against their use, as it is “in their very nature […] to make it difficult to provide full procedural guarantees in practice”.
In the following months, the European Parliament should not vote in favour of an Asylum Procedures Regulation that extends the scope of border procedures and makes them a generalised practice. It should not vote for a text that encourages member states to use indiscriminately the safe third country concept, a concept which is already highly problematic when applied with all the due human rights considerations.
The EU should not adopt any kind of formal or informal EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding for the purpose of sending back asylum seekers and having their asylum claims assessed there.
But it seems instead that once again, EU countries, hopelessly incapable of finding avenues to share the responsibility of protecting refugees, are very much ready to use all their political and economic leverage to shift this responsibility to third countries which are, on their side, totally unfit for this purpose.
It is a disturbing trend for a political union that proclaims itself as the world champion of human rights yet does not hesitate to trample the rights of those who were not lucky enough to be born as its citizens.
Source: euractiv.com
