Tunisia-Darmanin in Tunis: Associations reject any pressure on Tunisia

The French Minister of the Interior is paying an official visit to Tunisia on Friday 6 November 2020.

During this visit, Darmanin will meet the Tunisian Minister of the Interior, Taoufik Charfeddine with whom he will address the recent Nice attack perpetrated by a Tunisian who entered Italy illegally and then France. According to some French media, the minister will submit to the Tunisian authorities a list of nationals that France wishes to deport.

It is in this context that a collective of Tunisian associations and organizations addressed the minister in an open letter. Available on the site of the Tunisian Forum of Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), the letter notably calls on Darmanin not to exert any pressure on the Tunisian government on the subject of illegal migrants.

“We reject the political pressure against the Tunisian government and the governments of the south by certain European governments which take advantage of the fear caused by the appalling crimes committed by terrorists to get rid of undocumented migrants in defiance of law and justice”, we wrote.

The collective rejects the use of Salafi-jihadist terrorist attacks to put pressure on the Tunisian government to accept the massive increase in forced collective returns of migrants and the opening of detention centres in Tunisia.

The Tunisian government is called on to refuse the signing of any new agreement in the current context leading to questioning the rights of Tunisian migrants or the right to free movement of people.

Signatures:

• Association Arts et Cultures des deux Rives (ACDR)
• Association of Tunisian Women for Development Research (AFTURD)
• Mnemty Association
• ‘Nachaz-Dissonances association
• Shams Association
• Tunisian Association for Cultural Action (ATAC)
• Tunisian Association for the Defense of Individual Freedoms
• Tunisian Association for the Defense of University Values ​​(ATDVU)
• Tunisian Association for Gender StudiesTunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD)
• Tunisian Association for the Support of Minorities (ATSM)
• Creation and Creativity Association for Development and Employment (CCDE)
• Association for Citizenship, Development, Cultures and Migration of the Two Rives (CDCMIR)
• Vigilance Association for Democracy and the Civic State
• Beity
• Tunisian Coalition Against the Death Penalty
• Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia (CRLDHT)
• EuroMed Rights
• Federation of Tunisians for Citizenship of the Two Shores (FTCR)
• Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES)
• Organization Against Torture in Tunisia
• Tunisian Forum For Youth Empowerment (TFYE)
• Union of Tunisians for Citizen Action (UTAC)
• Earth for All Association
• Nomad 08 Association