The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has raised concerns over the ongoing rights violations of black Africans in Tunisia.
Development Diaries reports that the attacks on black Africans in Tunisia started in early February 2023 following perceived racist and xenophobic comments made by President Kais Saied.
CERD said Tunisia must take swift action to curb racist rhetoric and halt ongoing rights violations against black Africans.
President Saied had declared migrants from other parts of Africa as pawns in a ‘criminal plot’ to make his predominantly Arab and Muslim nation ‘a purely African country’.
He made the comments during a national security council meeting on 21 February, triggering an upsurge in anti-black racist violence.
Following his comments, there were reports of mobs taking to the streets and attacking black migrants, students and asylum-seekers, and police officers detaining and deporting scores.
In a statement, the UN committee called on Tunisia to combat all forms of racial discrimination and racist violence against black Africans, especially those who are sub-Saharan migrants or Tunisian citizens.
They urged Tunisia’s highest authorities to publicly condemn and distance themselves from racist hate speech by politicians and public and private figures.
In terms of reported rights violations, the committee requested that Tunisia halts the arrests and collective detention of migrants, release those who are arbitrarily detained, especially women and children, and allow those who choose to apply for asylum to do so.
According to UNHCR, 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers were registered in the country as of January 2023, with the majority from the Ivory Coast, Syria, Cameroon, and Sudan, and smaller numbers of Guineans, Libyans, and other nationalities.
Also, the Tunisian chapter of Lawyers Without Borders (ASF) has revealed that at least 850 black African foreigners were indiscriminately arrested in February.
Development Diaries calls on Tunisia to adhere to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and halt all forms of discrimination against migrants.
We also call on Tunisia to abide by its obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees, which it adopted in 1957, and also to abide by its own laws, being the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to criminalise racial discrimination.
Source: UN
Photo source: IOM
