46 Human Rights Organizations Condemn EU-Tunisia Migration Deal

Author: Vera Rousseff

July 21, 2026

On July 16, 2026, a coalition of 46 humanitarian and human rights organizations signed a joint statement condemning the European Union (EU)-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The statement argues that the MoU has fueled human rights violations in Tunisia, resulting in a deterioration of the country’s humanitarian environment. Since the MoU was first signed by Tunisia and the European Commission in 2023, it has reportedly funded abusive migration control activities and human rights violations against refugees and migrants, including racist abuse, arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence.

The MoU is part of the EU’s effort to externalize its border controls—a controversial strategy through which the EU provides funding to non-EU countries to intercept migrants and refugees before they reach Europe. This allows the EU to offload the burden of migration control to neighboring countries, who accept the arrangement in exchange for EU funds. In the case of Tunisia, the MoU included an allocation of 105 million euros (approximately US$113 million) from the EU to Tunisian institutions to support activities including border control operations, interceptions of migrant boats at sea, and the transfer of migrants to nearby countries.

Multiple human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have raised serious concerns about the prevalence of human rights violations during these interceptions and transfers. In 2024, UN experts cited reports of arbitrary forcible transfers to Algeria and Libya, failures to protect victims of human trafficking, and frequent use of violence. “We are appalled by the reported violence and the excessive use of force during these transfers,” the experts said. “Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women, are allegedly brought to the desert areas bordering with Algeria and Libya, and fired at by border guards if they attempt to return.”

Typically, legislation proposed by the European Commission—which acts as the EU’s executive body—is reviewed by the European Parliament. However, when the MoU with Tunisia was signed in 2023, the European Commission disregarded objections by the European Parliament and bypassed normal mechanisms of legislative scrutiny. The Commission also ignored serious concerns raised by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović, over the agreement’s lack of comprehensive human rights safeguards. “Failure to establish clear and concrete safeguards in migration co-operation activities will only add to the worrying trend of human rights being sacrificed to European states’ attempts to externalise their responsibilities,” Mijatović said in a statement. Despite these concerns and the abundant evidence of human rights violations resulting from the implementation of the MoU, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously referred to the agreement as “a blueprint for the future, for partnerships with other countries in the region.”

Thursday’s joint statement argues that the EU is ultimately responsible for how its funds are used, and that financing any abusive practices carried out by Tunisian authorities makes the EU complicit in grave violations of international refugee and human rights law. Tunisia has experienced significant democratic backsliding in recent years under President Kais Saied, resulting in a crackdown on civil society groups and a general deterioration of human rights in the country. Many of the Tunisian state institutions responsible for the crackdown—such as the police and the Tunisian National Guard—are the same institutions receiving funding through the MoU. Subsequently, the EU has enabled human rights violations, not only against migrants and asylum seekers, but also against the broader Tunisian population.

The signatories of the joint statement have called on the European Commission to suspend border control support to Tunisia and to ensure that any EU-Tunisia migration control agreements include effective human rights safeguards. 

Glossary

• Appalled: affected by strong feelings of shock and dismay.

• Arbitrary detention: the arrest and deprivation of liberty of a person outside of the confines of nationally recognized laws or international standards.

• Comprehensive: covering completely or broadly.

• Democratic backsliding: is the process of declining integrity for democratic values or institutions in a political system.

• Externalization: a migration management strategy that has won increasing favour among countries in the Global North, denoting measures taken by states beyond their borders to obstruct or deter the arrival of foreign nationals lacking permission to enter their intended destination country.

• Human trafficking: the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.

• Intercept: to stop, seize, or interrupt in progress or course or before arrival.