Bayti has urged the government of Tunisia to act quickly to assist scores of migrants who were relocated to border regions with Libya and Algeria.

Development Diaries reports that the organisation, in a statement, urged human rights defenders to coordinate efforts and pool resources to take care of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

‘For days, we have been witnessing in the Sfax region, where there are migrants who were abandoned and are living under real threat and pursuit that reached the point of their expulsion and deportation to the outskirts of the desert’, the statement read.

A Tunisian citizen was killed in deadly riots between immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the local population in Sfax last week.

The migrants were evacuated by Tunisian officials, who then carried them by bus to the Libyan and Algerian border regions.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), last week, raised concerns over the expulsion of at least 500 sub-Saharan African migrants and asylum seekers by Tunisian security forces without due process.

According to HRW, Tunisian authorities have so far expelled between 500 and 700 people to the border area, around 35 kilometers east of the town Ben Guerdane.

Hate speech towards irregular migrants has spread since Tunisian President Kais Saied condemned irregular migration in February, saying they are a demographic threat to the country.

Development Diaries calls on the Tunisian government to ensure the rights of migrants are protected and that due process is followed in the eviction process.

Photo source: Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency