The bodies of at least 27 migrants have been found at the Tunisian-Libyan border in recent days, according to Libyan border guards.
One woman said she had been pushed out to the border by Tunisia, according to Reuters.
Human Rights activists in Libya have confirmed the number of dead bodies cited by Libyan border guards, reported the German news agency dpa. Libyan media meanwhile reported that children were also among the dead.
Their exact causes of death are unknown, however, temperatures in this area can exceed 40 degrees Celsius, and many migrants in this situation report having to travel for days with little or no food, water or shelter.
On Wednesday (August 9) the National Human Rights Committee in Libya accused Tunisian authorities of deliberately abandoning people in the desert area as hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants reported in recent weeks that they had also been taken to the desert in the same manner.
Human Rights Watch have meanwhile referred to this practice of pushing migrants into this remote area as a form of “collective expulsion.” Last month, the UN Migration Agency IOM and the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR have both expressed “deep concern” for the safety of hundreds of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia.
The Tunisian government, however, categorically denies engaging in such practices. Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesperson Faker Bouzgaya told Reuters that “Tunisia rejects all accusations of expelling African immigrants.”
“People who meet the conditions for legal entry into Tunisia will be allowed in. Tunisia is not responsible for what happens outside its borders,” Bouzgaya added.
