We are writing on behalf of the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa: www.ituc-africa.org) to express our profound concern about the treatment being meted out to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in Tunisia. The recent utterances of the President of the Republic, Mr Kais Saied, have further given fuel and ammunition to those who harass and attack African migrants.
We support the statement of the African Union denouncing the utterances and positions of the Tunisian government concerning Sub-Saharan African migrants. The recent racist and xenophobic comments by the President of the Republic against sub-Saharan Africa migrants in Tunisia contradict the spirit and letter of the African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. These continental and international instruments, to which Tunisia is a signatory, abhor discrimination against people based on their nationality and race.
ITUC-Africa also denounces the arbitrary arrests of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia and calls for the display of our shared humanity and solidarity to defend their rights. Migrants, like all human beings, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and we call on the Tunisian government to uphold their human rights and provide them with the necessary protection. The arbitrary arrests of sub-Saharan Africa migrants also violate international human rights tenets. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Programme and the other members of the United Nations Network on migration have all emphasized the importance of upholding the human rights of migrants and providing them with the necessary protection irrespective of their migration status.
Therefore, we call on the Tunisia government to uphold and enforce the preservation of the human rights of migrants by desisting from arbitrary arrest, detention and deportation of African migrants. We also request the Tunisian government to take measures to investigate, prosecute and sanction extremist elements and groups that hunted and hurt migrants under the guise of preserving the Tunisian national identity as espoused by President Saied. The Tunisian government must rise up to the responsibility to stem these instigated attacks against African migrants and take steps to compensate the victims in a just and timely manner.
Yours sincerely,
Kwasi Adu-Amankwah
General Secretary, ITUC-Africa
