Illegal immigrants put Tunisia in moral confusion: Kais Saied holds stick in the middle

Sarah El-Hareth

In addition to the severe economic crisis Tunisia is going through, the country is experiencing moral confusion based on the role that European countries want it to play in return for lifting it out of its economic ordeal.

In return for the grant

A European delegation headed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Tunisia last Sunday and announced the European Union’s readiness to provide up to 900 million euros to support the Tunisian economy, in addition to an additional 150 million euros that will be provided immediately to support the budget, in exchange for its efforts to reduce Illegal immigration.

The rates of illegal immigration witnessed remarkable jumps, which led to the doubling of numbers and the accumulation of dead bodies on Tunisian beaches, in addition to the arrival of huge numbers of immigrants to European countries during the last year.

The reason for the doubling of the number of immigrants is due to the insecure conditions and the severe economic crises that hit the countries of the African continent with the spread of extremist groups.

During her visits, the European Commission president said the EU is also ready to provide Tunisia with 100 million euros for border management, support for search and rescue operations and anti-smuggling measures, and to focus once again on addressing the issue of migration.

Unethical behavior

On the other hand, European dealings with the immigration file are criticized by human rights activists, as activists of various nationalities accuse it of racist and immoral dealings with refugees to the extent that some European countries put arrested illegal immigrants in boats and returned them to the sea.

These criticisms reached Tunisia, as politicians and human rights activists refuse to turn Tunisia into a European border guard or have it participate in unethical methods of dealing with migrants. Therefore, the Tunisian government is at a loss between saving its economy and paying off the debts that are expected to be paid during the current year by obtaining conditional European support, or distancing itself from moral suspicions surrounding the refugee file.

Point of view

As a compromise, Tunisia is trying to set its vision with regard to the file of illegal immigration through the invitation launched by Tunisian President Kais Saied for a conference that brings together all parties concerned with the file of immigration, whether from the receiving or exporting countries.

In his proposal, Saied relied on dealing with the crisis away from the racism of one party over the other and away from security solutions that end in inhumane dealings with immigrants.

Tunisian political writer Nizar Jlidi said in a statement to the Reference that in light of Europe’s failure to deal with illegal immigration and its choice of a security solution, the proposal is appropriate in the current circumstance after the doubling of numbers of illegal immigration, noting that the moment calls for dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

Jlidi stressed that Tunisia wanted from this proposal to confirm that it is actively observing this phenomenon and that it cannot be alone or accept to be an open prison, pointing out that the proposed conference comes under the slogans of finding constructive solutions first, parity in dealing second, no dictations third, and that development is the motto and not the racism of the northern Mediterranean on the countries that export immigrants.