EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: Investigation Reveals EU Funding Security Forces Accused of Migrant Abuse in Tunisia ― Leaked Report Reveals EU Concerns About Credibility Risk of Migration Co-operation with Tunisia ― European Court of Auditors Report Criticises …

• An investigation by the Guardian newspaper has revealed that EU funding has been used to support security forces that are accused of widespread abuse against people on the move in Tunisia.
• A leaked internal report from the European External Action Service has revealed that the EU is concerned about the damaging impact of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding on its credibility due to the democratic repression and human rights abuses that are taking place in its partner country.
• A new report by the European Court of Auditors has criticised the use of the EU Trust Fund for Africa in Libya.
• A group of NGOs has issued a joint statement to denounce forced returns undertaken by Spanish and Moroccan forces on the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper has revealed that EU funding has been used to support security forces that are accused of widespread abuse against people on the move in Tunisia. The newspaper has reported witness testimonies of Tunisian forces routinely and violently beating people, raping women and leaving them to die in the desert. According to the spokesperson for the NGO Refugees in Libya, David Yambio, the outcome of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was agreed in July 2023 and which provides for a ‘holistic approach to migration’, has been that “people are incarcerated, women are raped, and children are dumped and left to die in the desert (…) on a “daily basis”. “Each agreement made with the Tunisian and Libyan regime is a death sentence for migrants and refugees,” he added. Given the MoU’s stated aim of ‘combating criminal networks of migrant smugglers and human traffickers’, German member of the European Parliament, Erik Marquardt, has stated that the EU needs to make an “honest assessment” of the measures that are being taken in this area and highlighted collusion between state actors and criminal gangs. “It’s not a conspiracy theory: it’s impossible for the smugglers to operate without the co-operation of the authorities,” he said. Marquardt’s claim is supported by evidence from smugglers who also spoke to the Guardian. “The national guard organise the Mediterranean boats. They watch them go into the water then take the boat and motor and sell them back to us,” smugglers in the coastal city of Sfax told the newspaper.

Elsewhere, a leaked internal report from the European External Action Service (EEAS) has revealed that the EU is concerned about the damaging impact of the EU-Tunisia MoU on its credibility due to the democratic repression and human rights abuses that are taking place in its partner country. According to the Guardian, the report highlights a “clear deterioration of the political climate and a shrinking civic space” under the leadership of Tunisian President Kais Saied, and reveals that the EEAS is aware that maintaining the EU’s migration co-operation with its deal partner will “entail striking an increasingly difficult balance between the EU’s credibility in terms of values and its interest in staying constructively engaged with the Tunisian authorities”. The report also notes that representatives of a number of NGOs that work with migrants are among the various people who have been arrested in recent months ahead of presidential elections in October and that many of their organisations are “implementing partners of EU-funded programmes”. Commenting on the final part of the leaked report, in which the future of the EU’s co-operation with Tunisia is set out, Hussein Baoumi from Amnesty International said: “It is saying that the EU must continue to engage more with the Tunisian authorities, continue to expand co-operation, to expand their partnership, even though it’s very clearly aware that this would be in violation of the EU’s commitments towards promoting human rights, to international law and rule of law”.

A new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has criticised the use of the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) in Libya. The report, which was published on 25 September, has found that, overall, the EUTF was not “concentrating enough on priorities to tackle the root causes of instability, irregular migration, and displacement on the African continent”. It also criticised the European Commission (EC) for its failure to implement “formal procedures for reporting, recording, and following up on alleged human rights violations in relation to EU-funded projects”. Regarding Libya specifically, the ECA found that, despite the EUTF’s stated aim of addressing the root causes of instability, forced displacement and irregular migration, and contributing to better migration management, funding in Libya had been spent on infrastructure projects, including the development of a seafront boulevard. It also noted that the Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre was still not operational despite having received EU-funded equipment in December 2021 and that there was no evidence that the Libyan Coast Guard had received the human rights training that it was supposed to receive as part of the EU’s support. “We saw no formal evidence on the scope and content of these courses,” said the auditors.

A group of NGOs has issued a joint statement to denounce forced returns undertaken by Spanish and Moroccan forces on the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. In the statement, which was issued on 26 September, the four organisations condemned what they described as “conscious actions carried out by the State, which violate national and international regulations on international protection and children”. The statement was issued in response to two incidents which took place on 26 August on in Ceuta and Melila. The authors concluded by demanding an end to “policies aimed at controlling, repressing and violating the rights of migrants and refugees”, and compliance by relevant authorities with “current legislation”. Commenting on the ongoing situation in Ceuta, ECRE member organisation the Andalucía Acoge Federation’s delegation in the exclave wrote in an opinion piece for the Diario online newspaper: “If legal and safe pathways that guarantee human rights were made available to people who want to migrate, we would not have to mourn deaths and forced entries like the ones we are experiencing this summer”. “Furthermore, if there were a properly equipped reception system, beyond emergencies, and which was concerned with providing a solid structure, those people who arrived in Ceuta would have more and better guaranteed rights,” it added.

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