18th December, 2020
Source: Al Jazeera
Tunisian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have written a letter to President Kais Saïed, on the occasion of International Migrants Day, calling on him to present a legislative initiative to guarantee and protect the rights of migrants as spelt out in the Constitution.
The signatories also suggested to the Head of State to integrate the issue of migrants and refugees in the work of the National Security Council under his authority and in national debates.
They stressed the need to speed up the adoption of the law on asylum by the parliament and the ratification by Tunisia of the conventions relating to the protection of the rights of migrants and refugees.
They further stressed the importance of including migration and asylum issues in development strategies and in all efforts to set up a national system for the protection of human rights.
The NGOs said that despite the legislative advances aimed at strengthening the rights of migrants and refugees in Tunisia, there are still many gaps, particularly in the implementation of certain laws.
Among the signatories are the Arab Institute for Human Rights, the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network and the Terre d’Asile Tunisia Association.