Despite the documented human rights violations by Tunisian authorities, the EU and its member states have stepped up their support for Kais Saïed’s administration.
Through the memorandum of understanding signed in July 2023, the EU promised Tunisia €1 billion, including €105 million dedicated to border and migration management, effectively in exchange for preventing sea departures towards Europe, which includes people in need of protection.
With the implementation of a Tunisian Search and Rescue Region, the Tunisian government has met a long-standing priority set by the EU.
While, on the one hand, this represents a formal step towards the fulfilment of Tunisia’s responsibility to protect life at sea, the reality is that European Rescue Coordination Centers will now refer boats in distress within the Tunisian SRR to the Tunisian RCC, reinforcing a gradual disengagement of EU actors in favour of actors with a poor human rights record.
By supporting an increased role for the Tunisian Coast Guard (National Guard) – without any human rights benchmarks or monitoring system in place, nor arrangements to ensure that rescued people are disembarked in a place of safety which cannot be Tunisia – the EU is contributing to a risk of further serious human rights violations at sea and in Tunisia against refugees and migrants and people at risk of persecution in the country.
Humanitarian space for search and rescue (SAR) NGOs will also be further curtailed if European RCCs instruct SAR NGOs to liaise with the newly established Tunisian MRCC for disembarkation, which they may refuse to respect the principle of non-refoulement.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has noted that vessels at sea are not the appropriate place for determining protection needs. Under international maritime law, states are primarily responsible for coordinating rescues within their SRRs and arranging disembarkation in a place of safety, which may be another state.
