EU fears for its credibility on human rights as Tunisia represses dissent, leak shows | Tunisia

The EU fears its credibility is at stake as it tries to balance growing concerns over the crackdown on opposition movements in Tunisia while maintaining a controversial migration deal with the North African country, a leaked document shows.

An internal report by the EU diplomatic service (EEAS), seen by the Guardian, describes “a significant deterioration in the political climate and shrinking space for civil society” under Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has suspended parliament and concentrated power in his hands since taking office in 2019.

EU officials expect Saied to remain in power after the October 6 presidential election. The period before the election was marked by the imprisonment of opposition candidates and the persecution of dissidents under the pretext of spreading false information.

The document will fuel concerns about the EU-Tunisia migration pact for 2023. The pact aims to prevent people from leaving the country and reaching Europe. Tunisia has already sparked accusations that it is funding dictators.

“Relations between the EU and Tunisia have become more complex,” says the document that EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell sent to the Union's foreign ministers on July 7. “The EU remains very interested in maintaining its partnership with Tunisia to ensure the country's stability,” the report continues. This link is a means of ensuring socio-economic stability, respect for human rights and “the continuation of cooperation.”[d] effective cooperation in migration management”.

The EU fears that without such support, Tunisia could fall under the influence of “hostile third countries.” Although no names are mentioned, this almost certainly refers to the “competitors” Russia, Iran and China.

And the report reveals Borrell's team's fears that the EU's credibility could suffer as the bloc tries to balance human rights with curbing migration and pursuing broader relations. “This will entail an increasingly difficult balance between the EU's credibility on values ​​and its interest in engaging constructively with the Tunisian authorities,” the report says.

The five-page report reports the arrest of opposition politicians, journalists, lawyers and businessmen ahead of next month's presidential elections. People working for non-governmental organizations that help migrants were also arrested. “Most of them are implementing partners of EU-funded programs,” the EU document says.

Since the EU report was written, other people have been arrested, including long-time human rights activist and journalist Sihem Bensedrine, the former chair of the Truth and Dignity Commission, which was set up after the Arab Spring to investigate decades of human rights abuses. She was remanded in custody on 1 August after the investigation was widely believed to be based on trumped-up charges.

Before her arrest, Bensedrine had spoken out against political repression and the “poisoned atmosphere” in Tunisia following Saied’s racist tirades against migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

The EEAS report notes that “public outrage and critical attention” over violence, displacement and other ill-treatment of migrants and asylum seekers, “in which the authorities are often implicated”, raise “critical questions about EU support to border management authorities”.

The report was commissioned by Borrell and sent to 27 EU foreign ministers.

The Guardian sent a copy to Hussein Baoumi of Amnesty International. Baoumi said the report's analysis reflected a very dire situation. “There is no escaping the reality: the situation in Tunisia is very worrying in terms of human rights and democratic backsliding.”

However, the last part of the report “seems like it was written by a completely different person” who had not read the first few pages, he said. “It says that the EU must continue to engage more closely with the Tunisian authorities, increase cooperation and partnership, while fully aware that this would be a breach of the EU's commitments to promote human rights, international law and the rule of law.”

“By expanding cooperation with Tunisia on international migration control,” he said, “the EU has given Tunisia considerable influence.”

Udo Bullmann, a long-serving Social Democrat MEP, said the political and human rights situation in Tunisia was “worrying today” and had been “worrying” when the memorandum of understanding was signed. “The European Commission has provided money from EU taxpayers' money to an authoritarian regime that is trying to suppress any opposition using inhumane methods,” he said.

The EU promised Tunisia €105 million in 2023 to combat people smugglers, expanding an existing multi-million euro border control fund. The Tunisian government later announced that it had returned €60 million to Brussels.

The Commission, Bullmann added, should examine a country's human rights situation before taking foreign policy measures.

The Commission was asked for an opinion.