Tracked boats and attacked migrants: in Tunisia, a brutality financed quietly by Europe

At a time when NGOs have been denouncing for several years the treatment of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, the European Union (EU) is accused of turning a blind eye to these shores in the name of combating clandestine immigration on its soil. This is what an investigation by the pan-Arab news site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reveals, mentioning close coordination between Brussels and Paris on this issue.

To understand this situation, we must go back to July 2023, when Tunisia signed a memorandum with the European Union for border control in exchange for significant financial support.

In 2024, Brussels reportedly allocated €208 million to Tunisia for “migration management,” a large part of which went towards funding equipment for the Tunisian coast guards and police.

Maritime chases

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights NGO claims that over 66,000 migrants were intercepted at sea by Tunisian coast guards in 2024, compared to 38,372 in 2022. Accounts from the sea are consistent: an increased aggressiveness by the coast guards, who no longer hesitate to chase down boats, with some witnesses mentioning maritime chases, deliberate collisions with makeshift boats, and physical violence.

“Our overcrowded boat sank after leaving the coasts of Sfax, in eastern Tunisia, heading towards Europe with 45 migrants of different African nationalities on board. It lost balance after a collision during a long pursuit led by the maritime units against the transporting boat, resulting in the death of 23 migrants, including a girl under 5 years old,” testifies a survivor.

In a report released in November 2025, Amnesty International described “high-speed maneuvers causing strong waves that risk overturning the boats,” carried out by coast guards who attack migrants with batons and spray tear gas at close range on people on the boats.

According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the EU’s passivity towards the actions of Tunisian authorities aims at one singular objective—breaching human rights: “Letting migrants die far from [European] borders.”

Majdi Karbai, a former MP involved in migration issues, believes that the European Union has de facto transferred the mission of blocking departures to the Schengen area to Tunisia, while considering Tunisia as a “safe country” for deported migrants.