The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged Tunisia’s authorities on Tuesday to end the “racist hate speech”, especially against African migrants from the south of the Sahara.
In a statement, the Committee said it was alarmed by the remarks made by President Kais Saied in late February, that “hordes of illegal migrants” arriving from south of the Sahara were the source “of violence and unacceptable crimes”.
The Committee found that such remarks violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The Committee said it is deeply concerned about reports of an increase of racial or xenophobic hate speech in Tunisia against migrants from African countries south of the Sahara on social networks and some other media, including racist hate speech by private personalities and political party members.
It is gravely concerned that this wave of hate speech has led to acts of violence against these migrants, including physical attacks and evictions from their homes and jobs.
The Committee said it is alarmed by reports of numerous arbitrary arrests of these migrants, including women, children, and students, carried out by law enforcement officials in a systematic campaign without all the procedural guarantees.
The Committee requested that Tunisia immediately halt the arrests and collective detentions of these migrants, release those who are arbitrarily detained, and allow those who choose to apply for asylum to do so.
On February 21, Saied had called for “urgent measures” to halt the flow of illegal migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia.
On March 8, he denounced any racism towards the migrants.
The developments related to the migrants prompted the World Bank to indefinitely suspend its partnership framework with Tunisia.
