Funding Repression: How the EU Migration Agreements with Libya and Tunisia Circumvent Non-Refoulement and Enable Human Rights Violations

Authors

Emma Soltis

First Page

238

Abstract

In 2023, the European Union and Tunisia entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, which outlined cooperation between the parties on several issues, including migration and mobility. Consistent with the European Union’s broader externalization agenda, the Memorandum of Understanding primarily allocates monetary and technical support to Tunisia and its authorities for migration management. In particular, Tunisian authorities are enabled to patrol the coast and intercept migrants and refugees attempting to irregularly migrate from North Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. The European Union sponsored a similar Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya in 2017. Critics have widely denounced the agreement between Italy and Libya, as Libyan authorities have been found to subject migrants and refugees to severe human rights violations once intercepted. This Note compares the significant issues identified in the Italy-Libya agreement—undermines human rights protections, diminishes accountability and transparency, and encourages instability and an imbalance of power—to the EU-Tunisia agreement, finding that the European Union has failed to implement meaningful reform in accordance with its obligations under international and European law. Rather, this Note argues that the European Union perpetuates human rights violations by funding Tunisian security personnel. Moreover, Tunisia and the European Union violate the principle of non-refoulement in their execution of the agreement. Accordingly, the agreement between the European Union and Tunisia must be challenged and retracted. Recognizing the difficulties in ensuring EU responsibility under current European Law, this Note asserts that the broader recognition of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations is needed within the European Union’s legal framework. This Note also contends that if cooperation between the European Union and Tunisia continues, the agreement must be amended to incorporate safeguards for human rights, including a cessation clause.

Recommended Citation

Emma Soltis, Funding Repression: How the EU Migration Agreements with Libya and Tunisia Circumvent Non-Refoulement and Enable Human Rights Violations, 50 Brook. J. Int'l L. 238 (2025).
Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol50/iss2/5