TUNIS — Tunisia’s treatment of refugees and migrants has come under intense international scrutiny following the release of a new Amnesty International report accusing the country of “widespread human rights violations.” The findings also raise serious questions about the European Union’s (EU) role in enabling the abuses through continued cooperation with Tunisian authorities to curb irregular migration.

The report, based on three years of research and more than 120 interviews with migrants and refugees from nearly 20 countries, paints a stark picture of systemic abuse and official neglect. It details a pattern of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, racial profiling, and the forced expulsion of predominantly Black migrants to dangerous regions such as Libya and Algeria — in direct violation of international refugee protections and non-refoulement laws.

Systematic Abuses and State Negligence

According to Amnesty, Tunisian authorities have progressively dismantled asylum protections and fostered a climate of xenophobia and racial hostility. Black migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa have reportedly been targeted through discriminatory policing, illegal detentions, and violent pushbacks at borders.

Several testimonies recount harrowing experiences. One Cameroonian woman described how her boat was intercepted and rammed by the Tunisian coast guard before passengers were left adrift without aid. Others said they were abandoned in desert border zones and forced to walk into neighboring countries under threat of violence.

The report highlights at least 70 known instances of collective expulsions between 2023 and 2025, involving more than 11,000 people. Aid workers and human rights defenders assisting migrants have also faced intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and prosecution under new laws restricting civil-society activity.

Amnesty officials condemned these developments, stating that Tunisia’s government has “presided over horrific human rights violations while stoking xenophobia and undermining its own refugee protection framework.”

European Complicity and Border Politics

Beyond Tunisia’s borders, the report takes aim at the European Union’s migration strategy, which channels millions of euros in aid, equipment, and training to Tunisian border forces. The arrangement, part of the EU’s broader effort to deter irregular migration across the Mediterranean, has been described by critics as a policy of outsourcing human suffering.

While EU officials credit the partnership with reducing migration flows, rights groups argue that it has effectively trapped thousands of migrants in unsafe conditions, stripping them of protection and leaving them vulnerable to abuse.

Amnesty says these agreements were made without meaningful human-rights safeguards or accountability mechanisms. By supporting Tunisian border operations known to commit abuses, the EU “risks complicity” in violations of international law.

The organization is now urging the EU to suspend funding and cooperation with Tunisia until robust monitoring systems and protection guarantees are put in place.

A Country of Containment, Not Sanctuary

Tunisia has long been a major transit hub for people seeking to reach Europe. However, observers say its role has shifted from a gateway to a holding zone — a place where migrants are confined, marginalized, and effectively trapped.

Analysts attribute this shift to both increased EU-Tunisia cooperation and the hardline policies of President Kais Saied, whose administration has been accused of promoting anti-migrant rhetoric and policies that fuel racial tension.

Eyewitness accounts from Tunisia’s southern regions describe migrants living in makeshift camps without access to food, healthcare, or legal recourse. Many report harassment from police and local residents, while others are stranded in isolated desert zones after mass expulsions.

Human Toll and International Response

The humanitarian toll is staggering. Thousands of migrants remain in limbo, neither able to move forward toward Europe nor return home. In recent months, several high-profile incidents — including groups stranded offshore on oil platforms after being denied entry — have underscored the desperation and peril faced by those trapped between borders.

Rights organizations across Europe and North Africa have renewed calls for coordinated international pressure on Tunisia to restore asylum protections, investigate abuses, and end racially motivated policing. They also urge the EU to re-evaluate its reliance on externalized border control agreements that prioritize deterrence over dignity.

The Road Ahead

Amnesty’s findings have placed Tunisia and the EU under renewed scrutiny at a critical moment for global migration policy. The report argues that Tunisia’s approach represents more than a failure of governance — it signals a deliberate system of exclusion and repression, designed to keep migrants out of sight and out of reach of protection.

European governments, it concludes, face a moral and legal choice: either continue to finance and partner with abusive regimes in the name of border control, or demand full accountability and respect for human rights.

As one Amnesty official warned, “Every day that European leaders continue to fund Tunisia’s border operations without ensuring protections for migrants, they become complicit in the suffering their policies create.