Tunisia, EU scrutinized for harsh treatment of migrants along route from Africa to Europe

Amna Nawaz:

Italian Coast Guards have given up hope of finding nearly 30 migrants thrown into the sea over the weekend, when their flimsy dinghies overturned after setting sail from Tunisia.

This latest Mediterranean tragedy happened as human rights organizations called on Tunisia's president to save hundreds of African migrants trapped on the border with Libya without shelter from the scorching heat and sun.

The crisis has accelerated criticism of the European Union, which recently signed a deal with Tunisia to crack down on illegal migration.

Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

Malcolm Brabant:

Risk death in the desert or drown at sea, those are the terrible choices facing sub-Saharan Africans trying to reach Europe via Tunisia; 27 migrants are missing, feared dead, after their rubber dinghies capsized in rough seas south of the Italian island of Lampedusa this weekend.

The Italian Coast Guard rescued 57 people and recovered the bodies of a young boy and a woman who succumbed to the waves before deliverance arrived. And this is the fate they were trying to avoid, being abandoned in the Sahara Desert, one of the most unforgiving places on Earth.

Other sub-Saharan Africans with the same European dream have been dying of thirst after being dumped by the Tunisian authorities on the Libyan border. This mother and her small child are among the latest victims, lying next to an empty water bottle and not far from a man who also succumbed to extreme heat and dehydration.

Lauren Seibert, Human Rights Watch:

Over 300 people are still currently trapped at the Tunisia-Libya border in the desert, and they have been trapped there for weeks.

Malcolm Brabant:

Human Rights Watch researcher Lauren Seibert is an expert on the dangers facing migrants in Africa.

Lauren Seibert:

You have children,. You have women. You have deaths that are increasing. You do have Libya border guards that are reporting deaths every few days.

Malcolm Brabant:

Fatemah Ibrahim, from Nigeria, is terrified, as Libyan border guards approach.

"We won't hit you," says this officer, as he tells a colleague to give her water. "We won't hit you. Don't be afraid."

As the Libyans dispense the smallest of mouthfuls, Fatemah Ibrahim explains why they're in peril.

Fatemah Ibrahim, Nigerian Migrant (through interpreter):

In Tunisia, the police arrested us, beat us, and took our phones and all our money. They told us to go to Libya, and my people kept saying, Libya is very bad. They left us without water and food. They put us there and then left.

Malcolm Brabant:

Tunisia's authoritarian President Kais Saied is being blamed for what is turning into a 21st century pogrom. Accompanied by a jaunty soundtrack on his Facebook page, Saied presents himself as an international statesman, greeting leaders such as Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Melon.

But many critics condemn him as a dictator who propagates racism. In February, Saied told security forces to stop all illegal migration and expel those without documents.

Kais Saied, Tunisia President (through interpreter):

We are African and we are proud to be Africans. We give help to those who come to us. But we refuse to be neither a pathway nor a land to settle in.

Malcolm Brabant:

A campaign of arrests and expulsions created a wave of fear among sub-Saharan Africans and Black Tunisians.

Pro-refugee activists took to the streets of the capital, Tunis, to protest the new measures. But Saied was unrepentant.

Kais Saied (through interpreter):

We are being subjected to vicious campaigns from mercenaries, traitors, foreign agents, and shady parties. Today, they want to change the demographic composition of Tunisia. It's a plot, and they get paid for it. And they got paid in other fields to attack the state and the Tunisian people and their identity.

Malcolm Brabant:

Saied's remarks have been widely condemned for provoking racial violence between Tunisians and migrants. The death of a Tunisian in July was one of the catalysts that led to the expulsions to the desert.

Despite the clashes, European Union leaders had no qualms about visiting the presidential palace to do business with a man who seized power two years ago, crushing democratic aspirations of the nation where the Arab Spring began in 2011.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen pledged $100 million to help Tunisia police its own borders, with the lure of a further billion dollars in aid.

Ursula Von Der Leyen, President, European Commission:

We need to crack down on criminal networks of smugglers and traffickers. They are exploiting human despair. And we have to break their reckless business model. So, we will work with Tunisia on an anti-smuggling operational partnership.

Malcolm Brabant:

The E.U. country which benefits most from this deal is Italy. The island of Lampedusa is just over 100 miles from Tunisia, and has been a landing zone for tens of thousands of asylum seekers for years.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Melon took office last autumn on an-anti migration platform.

Giorgia Melon, Italian Prime Minister (through interpreter):

The partnership with Tunisia has to be considered as a model for building new relations with North African neighbors. All these a few months ago would have been unthinkable. And I want to say it with a level of pride, but also with a level of gratitude to the European Union.

Anand Menon, King’s College London:

The rhetoric around this deal is a rhetoric of preventing people drowning, whereas everyone knows that the reality is about preventing people coming from — to Europe. That's the political priority in Europe.

Malcolm Brabant:

Anand Menon is professor of European politics at King's College London.

Anand Menon:

Europe has cash, and North African states have space to build these camps to house these migrants. We should remember that, of course, the European Union paid Colonel Gadhafi way back in the sort of 2009-2010 to do exactly the same thing, to make sure migrants didn't make the crossing.

So, politically, you see the rationale. But it makes the European Union complicit in human rights abuses in these camps.

Malcolm Brabant:

What does this say about Europe?

Anand Menon:

I think what it says about Europe is that European and — European politicians are terrified by migration from Africa and will do anything it takes to stop it, even if it means dealing with dictators such as in Tunisia.

Migrants:

Black Lives matter!

Malcolm Brabant:

These people were rescued from the desert by Libyan authorities. Their protest took place during a media facility with a border guard unit.

Ibrahim Bangua, Sierra Leone Migrant (through interpreter):

Some people are sick. We are asking for a solution. No solution. Every day, they come with weapons for us. We are not fighting. We are just migrants.

Malcolm Brabant:

Tunisia's actions are a welcome distraction for its neighbor Libya, another country on the migrant trail with a dreadful reputation.

Natasha Tsangarides, Freedom From Torture:

Our legal advisers who work with survivors of torture every day describe Libya as Armageddon. They describe it as complete hell on earth.

Malcolm Brabant:

Natasha Tsangarides is the associate director of advocacy with Freedom From Torture, a British nonprofit.

Natasha Tsangarides:

People experience such high levels of trauma and PTSD following their time in Libya, being subjected to open-air slave markets, being sold off at auctions, being subject to rape and torture.

Malcolm Brabant:

But, for human rights activists, discussions about the morality and cynicism of the European Union and its North African partners are taking second place to the issue of life and death in the Sahara.

How do you see this ending?

Lauren Seibert:

Honestly, if the Tunisian government does not take action to save these individuals' lives by allowing humanitarian aid immediately to access the zone, and if it does not also facilitate the evacuation of these people, you're going to see extreme numbers of deaths.

And you have got children there. More children could die. It's just really catastrophic.

Malcolm Brabant:

Tunisia has dismissed international characterization of the expulsions as false allegations. But it's impossible to deny that time is running out in the desert and in the cruel Mediterranean Sea.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.