Two Years After EU Deal, Violence Against Migrants in Tunisia Persists
Tunisia’s migration policy faces renewed scrutiny two years after signing an agreement with the European Union aimed at limiting irregular migration from North Africa. The issue has intensified since President Kais Saied’s 2023 remarks describing black migration as a “danger,” which fueled controversy and discrimination concerns.
An Amnesty International report released in November 2025 details severe human rights abuses faced by migrants and refugees in Tunisia. The organization recorded 120 testimonies describing beatings, forced displacements, and racist violence, particularly against black migrants.
“They took each of us one by one, surrounded us, and told us to lie down. We were handcuffed and beaten with whatever they had — clubs, pipes, wooden sticks,” said a Cameroonian national named Hakim.
“They made us chant ‘Tunisia no more, we will never come back,’ over and over. They punched and kicked us all over our bodies,” he added, recalling how Tunisian officers drove him and others to the Algerian border in January 2025 before abandoning them there.
Amnesty International gathered testimonies from refugees representing nearly twenty countries across Tunis, Sfax, and Zarzis between February 2023 and June 2025, documenting a pattern of systemic abuse and racial hostility.
Author’s Summary
Despite promises of reform following an EU migration agreement, Tunisia continues to violate migrants’ rights through widespread abuse and racial violence reported by Amnesty International.