Lawyer leading case says ICC must act with “full force… to protect the most vulnerable”
Relatives of jailed Tunisian opposition activists plan to petition the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged rights violations against migrants and refugees in the country, The Guardian reports.
The move planned for next week by the group, which previously asked a Hague-based court to investigate alleged political persecution in Tunisia, comes amid new reports that black migrants in Tunisia are suffering wide-ranging abuses, including sexual violence, from security forces.
“The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate these alleged crimes against humanity and should act with the full weight of international law to protect the most vulnerable,” said lawyer Rodney Dixon KC, who is leading the case, quoted by the British newspaper.
The newspaper's report on Friday followed its investigation this week into allegations of abuses by security forces funded by the European Union.
Expulsions from the desert
Tunisia's treatment of sub-Saharan African migrants, who often travel to the country as a stepping stone to reach Europe by sea, has come under scrutiny since the country reached a 100 million euro ($112 million) deal with the EU in July 2023 to help it combat undocumented migration.
That same month, Tunisian authorities rounded up hundreds of black migrants and refugees and abandoned them in the deserts of Libya and Algeria without food or water, where at least 27 of them died, leading to accusations that the EU was outsourcing a violent border management strategy.
Expulsions in Tunisia continued with such frequency that they became an unofficial policy, human rights groups said.
Tunisian authorities are also now facing increasing reports of assault and sexual violence against migrants, who continue to be expelled to arid desert areas, according to a recent investigation by The Guardian.
“We have had many cases of women being raped in the desert. They are taken from here and attacked,” local activist Yasmine, who set up a healthcare association supporting migrants in the coastal city of Sfax, told the paper.
Tunisian authorities have denied the allegations, saying their security personnel “act with professionalism” and “respect international principles and standards.”
'Chilling message'
The abuse allegations are the latest to hit the government of President Kais Saied, who is up for re-election in October.
Since dissolving parliament and overseeing the rewriting of the constitution in 2022, Saied has restricted political and press freedoms. Scores of journalists, political opponents and activists have been arrested, including those advocating for migrants, in what rights groups have denounced as a stifling crackdown.
“The crackdown on migration-related work, accompanied by increasing arrests of government critics and journalists, sends a chilling message: anyone who doesn’t fall in line could find themselves in the crosshairs of the authorities,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Last week, Tunisia’s electoral commission, whose members were handpicked by Saied, rejected a court order to reinstate two presidential candidates he had barred from running. That leaves him to compete against two lesser-known candidates in a race he is widely expected to win.
“By ignoring the administrative court’s decisions, the electoral commission is once again tipping the balance in Saied’s favour and making a mockery of this election,” Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera.
