Beyond borders, beyond boundaries
A Critical Analysis of EU Financial Support for Border Control in Tunisia and Libya
In recent years, the European Union (EU) and its Member States have intensified their effort to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from reaching their borders. One strategy to reach this goal consists of funding programs for third countries' coast guards and border police, as currently happens in Libya and Tunisia.
These programs - funded by the EUTF for Africa and the NDICI-Global Europe - allocate funding to train and equip authorities, including the delivery and maintenance of assets. NGOs, activists, and International Organizations have amassed substantial evidence implicating Libyan and Tunisian authorities in severe human rights violations.
The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament commissioned a study carried out by Profundo, ARCI, EuroMed Rights and Action Aid, on how EU funding is linked to human rights violations in neighbouring countries, such as Tunisia and Libya.
The study answers the following questions:
- What is the state of EU funding for programs aimed at enhancing border control capacities in Libya and Tunisia?
- What is the human rights impact of these initiatives?
- What is the framework for human rights compliance?
- How do the NDICI-Global Europe decision-making processes work?
The report highlights that the shortcomings in human rights compliance within border control programs, coupled with the lack of proper transparency clearly contradicts EU and international law. Moreover, this results in the insufficient consideration of the risk of human rights violations when allocating funding for both ongoing and new programs.
This is particularly concerning in the cases of Tunisia and Libya, where this report collects evidence that the ongoing strategies, regardless of achieving or not the questionable goals of reducing migration flows, have a very severe human rights impact on migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
