Amnesty: Tunisia breaching rights with 'abusive' travel restrictions

Tunisian authorities have spent the last five years enforcing "abusive" and secretive travel restrictions which breach human rights, Amnesty International said last week.

Since 2013, Tunisia's Interior Ministry has restricted the movement of almost 30,000 people using border control measures which use criteria not accessible to the public and that lack judicial oversight, the rights group reported. 

The so-called S17 measures were created for security purposes but have had "devastating" impacts on the livelihoods of Tunisians, according to 60 people profiled in Amnesty's report.

The measures target people because of their perceived religious beliefs or physical appearance, including women wearing the niqab and men with beards. Those with criminal convictions connected to banned Islamic groups were also targeted. 

"The current border measures restrict people's right to freedom of movement in law and cannot be justified as necessary or proportionate," Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Heba Morayef said. "They violate both Tunisia's international human rights obligations and the country's own constitution," she continued. 

"By leaving decisions to impose border control measures solely to the discretion of the Ministry of Interior without effective judicial oversight, the Tunisian authorities are leaving them open to abuse," Morayef added.

Those profiled in the report said the measures had left them unable to study or work. 

Lotfi, from the region Kasserine near the Algerian border, described how he was stopped from travelling to France to care for his sick mother. He was forced to wait two hours at the airport before being turned away. "They just sent me away without any explanation or opportunity to understand what this was based on. This is an injustice," he said.

Small business owner Mohamed Guerfel from Ben Guerdane, a town near the Tunisian border with Libya, lost his only source of income after being subjected to an S17 restriction that prevented him from travelling to Libya to purchase goods, Amnesty said. 

Fisherman Najamaeddine said it was "just absurd" that his movement was restricted after a man he used to work with travelled to Syria, allegedly to join a terrorist group.

"I have never been arrested before, let alone convicted and they never tell me why I was placed under this measure ... I don't know what I did. If I did do something wrong, I implore them to put me in prison instead of living with this anxiety all the time," he said. 

Amnesty's Morayef urged the Tunisian government to comply with international law. 

"The Tunisian government must ensure that all arbitrary travel restrictions are lifted and that any measures restricting freedom of movement have a clear legal basis, are necessary and proportionate and in line with human rights international law and Tunisian laws," Morayef said.    (dpa)