The European Union’s migration deals with Tunisia and Mauritania have proved to be controversial, with the former strongly criticized for fundamental rights violations of migrants stranded in the north African country, while the latter has not discouraged thousands of Africans from increasingly going through Mauritania to reach European shores. In July 2023, the EU signed with Tunisia a ‘Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic and Global Partnership’, mainly aimed at stemming migration in exchange for strengthened cooperation in other policy areas. In April 2024, the EU granted €210 million in aid to Mauritania, nearly €60 million of which was earmarked to fight illegal migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands in a bid to eventually reach continental Europe. But both deals were met with strong criticism from both civil society and institutional bodies such as the European Parliament, the European Ombudsman, and several EU member states. As a recent analysis in the Netherlands International Law Review points out, the EU policy trend of externalizing migration control through partnerships with third countries generate concerns about EU’s complicity in the fundamental rights violations of migrants.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 12, 2024 16:08 UTC