Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoOHCHR / TUNISIA MIGRANTS
STORY: OHCHR / TUNISIA MIGRANTS
TRT: 01:21
SOURCE: UNTV CH / OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 MAY 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
17 MAY 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND SHOTLIST
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are very concerned by the increased targeting in Tunisia of migrants, mostly from south of the Sahara, and individuals and organisations working to assist them. At the same time, we are witnessing a rise in the use of dehumanising and racist rhetoric against Black migrants and Black Tunisians.”
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Our Office has recorded incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists critical of the Government, as well as its migration policies.”
6. Wide shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Reported raids in the past week on the Tunisia Bar Association undermine the rule of law and violate international standards on the protection of the independence and function of lawyers. Such actions clearly constitute forms of intimidation and harassment.”
8. Wide shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Furthermore, the rule of law must be upheld, and those arbitrarily detained, including for defending the rights of migrants and for combating racial discrimination, released. The human rights of all migrants must be protected, and xenophobic hate speech must stop.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
The UN Human Rights Office today (17 May) highlighted the worrying situation of migrants in Tunisia and the rise in the use of “dehumanising and racist rhetoric against Black migrants and Black Tunisians.”
“We are very concerned by the increased targeting in Tunisia of migrants, mostly from south of the Sahara, and individuals and organisations working to assist them. At the same time, we are witnessing a rise in the use of dehumanising and racist rhetoric against Black migrants and Black Tunisians,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
“Our Office has recorded incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists critical of the Government, as well as its migration policies,” she said.
Shamdasani also flagged another worrying recent development.
“Reported raids in the past week on the Tunisia Bar Association undermine the rule of law and violate international standards on the protection of the independence and function of lawyers. Such actions clearly constitute forms of intimidation and harassment,” Shamdasani noted.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urges the authorities to respect and safeguard freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Tunisia is a party, the spokesperson said.
“The rule of law must be upheld, and those arbitrarily detained, including for defending the rights of migrants and for combating racial discrimination, released. The human rights of all migrants must be protected, and xenophobic hate speech must stop,” stressed Shamdasani.
Download
There is no media available to download.
