Tunisia: attacks against the sub-Saharan community, against migrants and refugees, but President Kais Saied rejects the accusations of racism

ROME – One-year residence permits for African students living in the country; facilitation of voluntary returns for those who wish to return to their own country in Africa; greater efforts to help refugees and migrants who are in the country from a social, health, psychological point of view, through the Red Crescent and its partners; more commitment to surveillance against trafficking in human beings: these are some of the measures announced by Kais Saied on 5 March to demonstrate that Tunisia is not a racist country, but a place that has always welcomed. In the meantime, however, dozens of sub-Saharan Africans, many of whom have been left homeless, are camped in front of the headquarters of international organizations where they say they feel safer from attacks and arbitrary arrests.

Kais Saied speech. Between February 24th and March 3rd Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 citizens of West and Central African countries living in Tunisia. Their stories speak of violence and ill-treatment after the President’s infamous speech. On 21 February, Saied had in fact said that the aim of the waves of irregular immigration is to transform Tunisia into an exclusively African country with no ties to the Arab and Islamic world. Saied had accused African immigrants of bringing violence, crime and unacceptable acts to the country.

The data. A 2021 Tunisian report on migration to the country counts 21,000 foreigners from non-Maghreb African countries, out of a population of 12 million people. Of these, approximately 7,200 are students. L’UNHCR reports that as of January 2023, 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers were registered in the country, most from Ivory Coast, Syria, Cameroon and Sudan and fewer Guineans, Libyans and other nationalities. Most of them consider Tunisia a transit point to Europe.

Tunisia place of passage. From the beginning of 2022 – again according to theUNHCR – 100 percent of entries into the country occurred by sea, against 33 percent in 2019. The decision to cross Libya by sea to reach Sfax and then try to leave for Italy, instead of crossing the Algerian border, it has become predominant since 2020, when clashes between forces in Burkina Faso and fighting with Islamic extremists in southern Mali further destabilized the region.

Arbitrary arrests. Since early February, the police have been targeting black African foreigners. At least 850 people have been arbitrarily arrested according to assessments by the Tunisian chapter of Lawyers Without Borders. Among the detainees are undocumented people, refugees and asylum seekers. The Association of African Students in Tunisia (AESAT) told HRW researchers that at least 44 students have been arrested since February 21 and some are still being held. More than 40 students have suffered violent attacks. According to Lawyers Without Borders, when undocumented migrants reported assaults, the police arrested them instead of assisting them.

The testimony of a boy from Mali. The first of the rumors collected by HRW is of a 20-year-old Malian boy who is studying international trade and has been in Tunisia since September 2020. On 1 March, on his way home from his first day of internship in the center of the capital, he was threatened by a man with a razor blade. The student defended himself but still ended up in hospital with cuts on his chest and neck.

The story of a boy from Cameroon. On 27 February, a 17-year-old Cameroon boy registered with the UNHCR was evicted from his apartment in Ariana, north of Tunis, despite having paid the rent the day before. The same night, a group of men, apparently all Tunisians, attacked him and his roommates with a knife and sticks. They threw stones at him and robbed him of his mobile phone and cash, he said. The attackers sang “Kill the Blacks” in French. Since he was attacked, his bed has become a piece of cardboard in front of the entrance to the International Organization for Migration.

Violence against a woman from the Ivory Coast. An Ivorian woman who has lived in Tunisia since 2017 with twins and has a regular residence permit, on February 24 found the owner of the place where she runs a beauty salon in Sidi Amor who was destroying all the equipment with an ax because ” the police said that black people cannot have a business”.

The law. In 2018, Tunisia, in a revolutionary move across the Middle East and North Africa region, passed a law that combats racial discrimination and provides for detention for racist comments and acts. Furthermore, the country has adhered to the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.