 |
| Signatories Organisations |
Tunis-Paris-Copenhagen-Brussels, 17 March 2014- On 3 March, Tunisia and the European Union signed a ‘mobility partnership’.
Over the last two years, the signatory
organizations have repeatedly expressed their concerns about this partnership.
We hereby reiterate them and condemn the lack of transparency in the
negotiation process which did not involve civil society actors, many of whom
have been active on issues directly relevant to the agreement. The
implementation of such agreement is particularly worrying in the current
Tunisian transitional context where key institutions and legislative
instruments needed to guarantee the respect of the rights of migrants, refugees
and asylum seekers are still lacking.
The wording of the joint declaration signed by Cecilia Malmström and Tahar Cherif, makes it clear that these rights are not a priority in the ‘partnership’. Rather, the agreement clearly aims ‘to promote a common and responsible management of existing migratory flows’, to develop ‘their bilateral relations in the fields of migration, mobility and security’ and to cooperate ‘together to better meet the challenges faced in the Mediterranean.’
