Families of jailed Tunisians to urge ICC to probe migrant abuse: Report | Migration News

Lawyer leading case says International Criminal Court must act with ‘full force … to protect those most vulnerable’.

Relatives of jailed Tunisian opposition figures plan to file a submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged rights violations against migrants and refugees in the country, The Guardian newspaper reports.

The move planned for next week by the group, which previously petitioned The Hague-based court to probe alleged political persecution in Tunisia, comes amid new reports that Black migrants in Tunisia are suffering far-reaching abuse, including sexual violence, from security forces.

“The ICC has the jurisdiction to investigate these alleged crimes against humanity and should act with the full force of international law to protect those most vulnerable,” the British newspaper quoted Rodney Dixon KC, the lawyer heading the case, as saying.

The report by the newspaper on Friday followed its investigation this week into allegations of abuses committed by European Union-funded security forces.

Desert expulsions

Tunisia’s treatment of sub-Saharan African migrants, who often travel to the country as a springboard to reach Europe by sea, has come under scrutiny since it struck a 100 million euro ($112m) deal with the EU in July 2023 to help it combat undocumented migration.

The same month, Tunisian authorities rounded up hundreds of Black migrants and refugees and dumped them in the Libyan and Algerian deserts with no food and water, where at least 27 died, leading to accusations the EU was outsourcing a violent border management strategy.

The expulsions in Tunisia continued with such frequency that they became unofficial policy, rights groups said.

Tunisian authorities are also now facing mounting claims of assaults and sexual violence against migrants, who are still being expelled into barren desert areas, according to a recent investigation by The Guardian.

“We’ve had so many cases of women being raped in the desert. They take them from here and attack them,” local activist Yasmine, who opened a healthcare association that supports migrants in the coastal town of Sfax, told the newspaper.

Tunisian authorities denied the allegations reported by the newspaper, claiming their security personnel “operate with “professionalism” and respect “international principles and standards”.

‘Chilling message’

The abuse allegations are the latest to plague the government of President Kais Saied, who is up for re-election in October.

Since dissolving parliament and overseeing the re-writing of the constitution in 2022, Saied has restricted political and media freedoms. Dozens of journalists, political opponents and activists have been arrested, including those advocating for migrants, in what rights groups have decried as a stifling crackdown.

“The clampdown on migration-related work at the same time as the increasing arrest of government critics and journalists sends a chilling message that anyone who doesn’t fall in line may end up in the authorities’ crosshairs,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Last week, Tunisia’s electoral commission, whose members were selected by Saied, rejected a court order to reinstate two presidential candidates it had barred from contesting the election. That leaves him to compete against only two lesser-known candidates, in a race he is widely expected to win.

“By disregarding the administrative court’s rulings, the electoral commission is once again tipping the scales in favour of Saied and making a mockery of this election,” Bassam Khawaja, Middle East and North Africa deputy director at Human Rights Watch, had told Al Jazeera.