The transfer of patrol boats to Tunisia has been suspended until further notice: the organizations Asgi, Arci, ActionAid, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Spazi circulari and Le Carbet report this in a note. The hearing in the Council Chamber, they add, is scheduled for 11 July. Asgi, Arci, ActionAid, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Spazi Circolari and Le Carbet had appealed to the TAR of Lazio contesting the financing of 4.8 million euros for the restoration of efficiency and the transfer to Tunisia of 6 patrol boats. The note continues: «At the end of May, the TAR rejected the appeal presented by Asgi, Arci, ActionAid, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Spazi Circolari and Le Carbet against the transfer of six patrol boats to the Tunisian Garde Nationale.
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By virtue of this decision, the transfer of the first three patrol boats was scheduled for the month of June. The associations therefore appealed the ruling of the Administrative Court to the Council of State, urgently requesting the precautionary suspension of the provision”. As also supported by the United Nations, providing patrol boats to the Tunisian authorities means increasing the risk that migrant people will be subjected to illegal deportations, clarify Maria Teresa Brocchetto, Luce Bonzano and Cristina Laura Cecchini of the pool of lawyers following the case. The human rights violations committed by the Tunisian authorities are very serious.
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«The new wave of arrests and deportations against migrant people is now accompanied by persecutions against the civil society actors who support them – declares Filippo Miraglia of Arci, however Italian and European policies seem to support and justify each other, impervious to the alarms raised by the United Nations and international NGOs who unanimously condemn the actions of the Tunisian authorities.” The Lazio Regional Administrative Court had deemed the contested agreement legitimate, considering it in line with the decisions taken at community and national level and believing that the Italian government had conducted a complete investigation in the context of long-term cooperation with Tunisia.
