The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights is closely following the news on the creation of a camp in the region of Bir El Fatnassiya located 15km south of the Rmada city in the governorate of Tataouine as part of an emergency plan. After the experience of the Choucha camp, volunteer citizens assumed the greatest share of responsibility and, faced with the abandonment of all international organizations, Tunisia was forced to deal with the repercussions of the establishment of such a camp, namely the accommodation of a group of asylum-seekers in the youth centre at La Marsa. The future camp will be called "the reception and orientation centre" and will be run by the Tunisian government.

This operation reminds us of the El Ourdira centre and the intolerable conditions in which migrants and refugees are received there. In view of the lack of information on the plan, the questions raised by the choice of its location, in particular the respect for minimum human and relief conditions, the shortcomings of the Tunisian legal system and the absence of a national migration strategy and a law regulating and guaranteeing the rights of migrants, FTDES wonders whether it is appropriate to make such choices knowing that they threaten the fundamental rights of refugees and:

• Condemns the international and especially European policies which have aggravated the crisis in Libya and which, through a process of externalisation, have closed their borders, thus forcing Tunisia to assume responsibility for the refugees who have fled Libya at a time when its political, social and economic situation is delicate
• Calls for international cooperation to manage the impact of the arrival of asylum seekers in Tunisia
• Calls for the involvement of national organizations and constituted bodies in contingency plans to deal with the impact of the situation in Libya while ensuring respect for human rights
• Calls upon the Government and international organizations to provide the necessary means to meet the human needs of migrants and asylum-seekers entering Tunisia on the basis of the principle of non-discrimination
• Rejects the use of forced repatriation and considers that security measures must respect the rights of the most vulnerable categories of people such as women, children and all asylum seekers.