For Freedom of Movement & Fair Development!

Short report about an action in front of the UNHCR office in Tunis

More informations about Choucha can be found on this website at the following place (on english, german and french)

This morning we were at the UNHCR office in Tunis, where refugees from Choucha, who are accepted, but did not get resettlement, are on a sit-in since almost 6 months. With a delegation of two Germans, two Italians and one refugee from Choucha, we asked to talk about a responsible person of the UNHCR and Julia Gouyou Beauchamps, adminstrator for external relations, talked one hour with us. First we asked about the 15 places for resettlement mentioned in the newspaper “Sabah” of 2nd sept. She said it was a misunderstanding and these are no new places but refugees waiting for a long time to be resettled to USA and Canada.

After this, we discussed about the problems of local integration and refugees, who refuse it and are still in Choucha, about the rejected refugees and the situation in Tunisia, which is not stable and there is no law concerning refugees. We demanded resettlement in safe countries for all. We also asked, if it is true that the camp will be evicted at the end of sept. – she said she doesn't know, because the Tunisian military is responsible. She gave some statistics: there are still 135 accepted refugees in Choucha and about 262 rejected refugees. We gave a lot of examples why the refugees from Choucha need other solutions than local integration, which does not work, and why we are fighting for resettlement of all of them to a country with asylum laws and rights for refugees.

Than we went to the European Delegation with banners and we asked to enter with a delegation. After some time, two people could enter and talk with Alexandre Zafiriou, Ministre Conseiller, who read articles we gave him and asked questions concerning the situation in Choucha and if we had been at European embassies? We asked him to support the refugees from Choucha by talking to responsible people of EU countries, and he promised to do so… During this time, the others were still in front of the building with banners and many people saw them. We reported to the refugees and finished the action.