World
Analysis: Concerns raised in Brussels over EU-Tunisia migration pact
Concerns are increasing in Brussels over the July migration pact agreed between the European Union and Tunisia with analysts saying European aid is increasingly being used to prop up authoritarian and autocratic leaders in North Africa.
The EU Ombudsman’s office asked the European Commission how it intends to monitor the rights of those affected and what assessment was made of its impact on rights before its signing.
The deal will see the EU give Tunisia 100 million euros ($106.6m) to combat undocumented immigration.
However, the agreement with Tunisia, pitched at the time as a breakthrough in the bloc’s dealings with irregular migration, has instead benefited leaders who actively restrict their citizens’ rights in return for the promise of energy deals and draconian, and frequently violent restrictions, on refugees and migrants, analysts say.
“Look at the facts,” Amine Ghali, director of the Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center in Tunis said. “People across the region are struggling more now than they have in the last 20 years. Their leaders and governments have contributed nothing to their social and economic welfare.”
The evidence from rights bodies is damning. Reports from Human Rights Watch point to Egypt, currently struggling to implement the reforms mandated by its latest International Monetary Fund bailout, maintaining an authoritarian regime where forced disappearances and torture remain commonplace.
In Algeria, after the COVID-19 pandemic ended mass anti-government protests that erupted in 2019, a crackdown on rights is well under way. Journalists, lawyers and rights defenders, as well as their families, have all been targeted by state apparatus.
In Morocco, rights groups point to the routine harassment of activists, with the state making regular use of the country’s penal code to imprison its critics.
In Libya, wracked by chaos since its 2011 revolution, warring militias exert control over the lives of its citizens, while in Tunisia – seen as the success story of the Arab Spring – President Kais Saied has reversed many of the gains made since the revolution that overthrew former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Lack of freedom
There appears to have been a change in the perspective since 2011 when European leaders appeared to accept that post-policy had been overly reliant on maintaining stability.
“In 2011, there was this kind of mea culpa,” Ghali said. “Europe admitted to its mistakes and seemed intent on creating this sense of a new era, of embedding democracy and rights across the region… Now it’s only about security and stability.”
According to ARTICLE 19, a human rights advocacy group, North African societies are among the world’s most restrictive when it comes to freedom.
Nevertheless, the EU continues to help sustain governments through energy deals and aid in return for their help in stopping the flow of refugees and migrants.
“There’s an increasing dichotomy emerging between ‘say’ and ‘do’ in Europe’s relations with North Africa,” David Diaz-Jogeix, ARTICLE 19’s senior director of programmes said. “While the EU can talk about its values, for North Africa it’s just about stopping migration. Essentially, through aid and energy deals, the EU is giving the region’s leaders permission to do what they want.
“By dealing with them in this way, the EU is giving their leaders legitimacy. They’re normalising their rule,” Diaz-Jogeix concluded.
Earlier this year, in the face of mounting international concern over widespread violence being experienced by Black sub-Saharan asylum seekers and refugees as a result of a speech given by the Tunisian president in February, the EU handed over millions in aid, with the promise of more, if terms could first be agreed with the IMF.
Authorities in Libya have been accused by rights groups of complicity in the systematic abuse and torture of refugees and migrants. According to Amnesty International, thousands are subject to arbitrary detention by various militias, armed groups and security forces.
In Algeria, with its rich energy resources, the EU and Italy have already been active in shoring up their presence while turning a blind eye to the demands of former pro-democracy protesters, many now languishing in jail.
Sources within the EU have been quoted as saying both Morocco and Egypt are in the bloc’s sights for an expansion of the Tunisia deal.
Changing attitudes
Nevertheless, EU states find themselves experiencing an unprecedented cost of living crisis, with individual households making the very real choice between heating and eating.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also placed an intense strain upon the EU’s energy strategy with energy resources in Africa now, quite literally, a matter of life and death for many.
That European attitudes to North Africa have undergone a dramatic shift is true, but so too has the character of the EU.
“The influx of millions of people during the migration crisis of 2015 really changed everything,” Susi Dennison of the European Council on Foreign Relations said.
At that time, more than one million predominantly Syrian refugees fled to Europe, accentuating lingering resentment towards immigration within the bloc and appearing to justify the claims of the far-right that Europe’s way of life was under threat.
“After that, the EU shifted to viewing its foreign policy more pragmatically,” Dennison said. “The idea was to deliver aid on a quid pro quo basis. That is, aid would be delivered in return for democratic reform,” she said of Europe’s early attempts to help improve the lives of many within the countries where refugees and migrants were coming from.
“However, more and more, controls on migration and energy deals have come to take precedence over democracy and rights as consideration for EU aid,” she added.
Politically, far-right governments have already taken power in many of Europe’s member states, not least in Italy, where the hardline Georgio Meloni serves as prime minister.
“Across Europe, we’re seeing the nature of human rights and who is entitled to them being debated and redefined. This is especially true of Georgio Meloni, who seems to fixate on what she calls legal migration in return for aid and energy. There’s no real place in that conversation for refugees or asylum seekers,” Dennison told Al Jazeera.
“Her views, which we’d previously have called far-right, are finding ground across Europe as, at least the more relevant parts of her vision each finds its audience with different European leaders, depending upon their need,” she said.
The European Commission, for its part, insists that its migration policies are devised in conjunction with a variety of NGOs and the UNHCR.
“[The migration pact] aims at creating a fairer, efficient, and more sustainable migration and asylum process for the European Union,” an EU spokesperson said. “It is designed to manage and normalise migration for the long term, providing certainty, clarity and decent conditions for people arriving in the EU. It also seeks to establish a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility, and respect for human rights.”
However, this will do little to placate the hungry and the desperate who continue to undertake weeks-long journeys across Africa for the chance of new lives, or just survival, in Europe.
More than 170,000 have crossed irregularly into the continent this year, according to the United Nations. Around 2,700, that we know of, have died in the attempt. The true number is likely much higher.
Very few have probably given much thought to Europe’s politics.
World
Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant
World
Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more
Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25.
The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico.
On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January.
HOW TO SAY ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ IN 10 LANGUAGES TO FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD
The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families.
One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations.
In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner.
Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple.
17 SECRET TRAVEL TIPS FOR FALL AND WINTER THAT AREN’T SO SECRET AFTER ALL
Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with.
In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence.
Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
CHRISTMAS TREES IN GERMANY WERE DECORATED WITH APPLES INSTEAD OF ORNAMENTS IN THE 1600S FOR ‘ADAM AND EVE DAY’
A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source.
The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before.
In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast.
Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo.
FLIGHT ATTENDANTS REVEAL THE SURPRISING DAY TO TRAVEL AHEAD OF THE CHRISTMAS RUSH
After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico.
Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico.
On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com.
For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season.
The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.
This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades.
World
Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10
Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.
A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.
The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.
Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.
Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.
“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.
“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”
Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.
The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.
-
Politics1 week ago
Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
Technology1 week ago
OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics1 week ago
U.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
-
Business1 week ago
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age
-
News1 week ago
East’s wintry mix could make travel dicey. And yes, that was a tornado in Calif.
-
Technology2 days ago
Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps