Protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Tunis on Saturday, demanding the deportation of undocumented sub-Saharan African migrants and calling for the UN agency to leave Tunisia.
The demonstration took place at midday in the Lac district of the capital under a heavy security presence. Security vehicles were stationed around the UNHCR compound, while protesters were kept at a distance from the building. Some activists were seen organising demonstrators before joining the protest, according to local footage and reports.
The protesters accused the UN agency of enabling the presence of undocumented migrants in Tunisia, a claim often repeated by anti-migrant campaigners in North Africa. UNHCR says Tunisia remains a key point on mixed migration routes between Africa and Europe, hosting asylum seekers and refugees from countries including Sudan, Syria, Somalia and West African states, many of whom have fled conflict, persecution or other protection risks.
The protest ended without immediate reports of violence, though security forces remained deployed around the compound as participants left the area.
Migration remains one of Tunisia’s most politically sensitive issues. The country is a major transit point for people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, particularly to Italy. Tensions have intensified in recent years as economic hardship, political pressure and European demands for tighter border controls have placed Tunisia at the centre of the central Mediterranean migration route.
In February 2023, President Kais Saied claimed that “hordes” of undocumented sub-Saharan African migrants posed a demographic threat to Tunisia, comments widely criticised by rights groups and the African Union as inflammatory. His remarks were followed by a wave of attacks, evictions and job losses affecting Black African migrants across the country.
Rights organisations have also accused Tunisian security forces of abuses against migrants, including arbitrary arrests, forced evictions and expulsions to desert border areas near Algeria and Libya. Human Rights Watch said in 2023 that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa had faced serious abuses by police, military and coast guard units.
Tunisian authorities have denied racism and defended their migration policy as a matter of sovereignty and public order. In April 2025, authorities dismantled makeshift migrant camps and began forced deportations, saying the camps had become a security concern.
Saturday’s protest underscored the continuing pressure on migrants, aid agencies and Tunisian authorities as migration remains a flashpoint in the country’s domestic politics and relations with Europe.
