Activist arrested in Tunisia as conditions worsen for migrants and their advocates

TUNIS, Tunisia – An anti-discrimination activist in Tunisia was arrested this week as part of a money laundering investigation as dangerous and dire conditions worsen for migrants and their advocates.

Saadia Mosbah, a black woman, was taken into custody and her home was searched as part of an investigation into the financing of the Mnemty association she runs.

She was arrested after posting on social media that she condemned the racism she faced because of her work from people who accused her of helping sub-Saharan migrants, said Bassem Trifi, the Tunisian president League for the Defense of Human Rights.

Her arrest was the latest manifestation of the problems facing migrants in Tunisia as authorities step up efforts to monitor the coast where many board boats to reach Europe.

At a National Security Council meeting on irregular migration, Tunisian President Kais Saied said on Tuesday that associations that receive significant foreign funding are “traitors and agents” and that the state’s role in managing migration and combating human trafficking is not should replace.

Due to the weather and tightened border security, fewer migrants have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean this year. But human rights groups warn that efforts to curb border crossings have failed to protect the tens of thousands of migrants stuck in Tunisia.

According to Tunisian broadcaster Radio Mosaique, more than 80 migrants were arrested in Tunis last week after clashes with law enforcement that “disturbed the peace” occurred during the evacuation of camps in the capital.

Hundreds of migrants had camped near the headquarters of the U.N. refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, often demanding that the agencies repatriate them outside Tunisia. Police destroyed their tents with heavy equipment and then bused them out of the city to “an unknown destination,” said Romdhane Ben Amor, a spokesman for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.

“Tunisia is exacerbating the crisis and promoting the idea that there is no solution,” Ben Amor told Radio Mosaique.

An estimated 244 migrants – most of them from outside Tunisia – have died or disappeared along the country’s Mediterranean coast this year, including 24 whose bodies were found last week, the NGO said.

A report based on government data released on Monday said the number of undocumented migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat has fallen as Tunisian authorities report an increasing number of apprehensions. This applies both to migrants from Tunisia and to migrants crossing the country on their way to Europe.

In April, authorities directly thwarted 209 migration attempts, preventing a total of more than 8,200 migrants from reaching Italy, most of them from sub-Saharan countries. The Tunisian coast guard has prevented more than 21,000 migrants from reaching Italy this year.

Managing migration to prevent chaos and despair on Italian shores is a top priority for European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Tunis four times this year.

North African and European officials have sought to curb human trafficking and better police borders and coastlines to prevent deaths at sea. Yet thousands of migrants fleeing conflict, poverty, persecution or the hope of a better life have continued their journey. They take boats from the coast north of Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, to Italian islands such as Lampedusa, about 130 kilometers away.

The European Union hopes to curb migration through measures such as development aid, voluntary returns and repatriation of migrants, and forging closer ties with neighboring governments that police their borders. They pledged billions of dollars last year to countries including Tunisia, Mauritania and Egypt to provide general government aid, migrant services and border patrols.

Although European leaders welcomed a $1.1 billion deal with Tunisia as a template, Saied vowed not to let the country become a “border guard” for Europe.

According to figures from the Italian Interior Ministry dated May 8, fewer than a third as many migrants have reached Italy in 2024 as at this time last year. The UN refugee agency reported that more than 24,000 migrants traveled from Tunisia to Italy in the first four months of 2023, while fewer than 8,000 made the journey successfully during the same period this year.

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