Tunisia-FTDES raises the alarm for asylum seekers and refugees in Tunisia

 The Migration Department of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights “FTDES” severely condemned fundamental breaches of the rights of asylum seekers, and refugees in Tunisia, reported the TAP agency.

The Forum justly estimated that in the created vacancy of a national legislative structure on asylum, asylum seekers and refugees in Tunisia are put under the personal protection of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The UN Agency, which is in direct command of properly reviewing their asylum applications, lately mandated the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR) to realise the effective protection to which each asylum seekers or recognised refugees are qualified, including accommodation, distribution of food vouchers, payment of medical expenses, etc.

Nevertheless, according to FTDES, a growing number of sufficient proofs displayed in recent months that these two organisations have severely neglected to properly respect the rights of people in imperative necessity of international protection, including overcrowding in shelters in southern Tunisia and inadequate shelter programmes in Sfax and Tunis.

The FTDES, hence, asks on all NGOs, civic associations, national and UN authorities to support and join in engaging dialogue to obtain a lasting solution to the dilemma of accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees in Tunisia and attend the most limited standard concerning the health of the premises, whether they are centres, hotels or apartments rented by the UNHCR.

The Forum equally draws the various actors’ awareness to the immediate protection of foreign minors notwithstanding of their administrative status, in mutual agreement with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Tunisia ratified in 1991.