Please note: In the german and french version of this website one can also find videos, articles and information about the situation in Choucha and the struggles of the people having to live in this camp. In addition, we want to refer to the following four websites which also inform about Choucha:

Solidarity with Fighting Refugees in Choucha/Tunisia This webiste has been installed on occasion of the refugee protests in the end of january 2013. It informs mainly in english about the newest developments.

Facebook Choucha-Solidarity. Numerous pictures, videos and short reports about the protests in the end of january 2013 you can also find on the facebook solidarity website (mailnly in english, french and arabic).

To UNHCR, IOM, the Tunisian Red Cross, the Tunisian government and all the actors involved in the management of Choucha camp:

Aware of the notice given by IOM and the Tunisian Red Cross to the people still living in Choucha camp about the forthcoming eviction of the camp, we, as a group of researchers, activists, academics and members of human rights organizations from Europe and Tunisia, denounce the intolerable treatment that you are planning to do against the refugees who have been living in the camp since 2011, with no effective solution for a space to stay. Humanitarian actors left those refugees dying in the desert after the official closure of the camp in June 2013, and most of them in fact have tried to cross the sea risking their lives –some also died. Now, you are trying to chase them from the only space they have for living, and without giving them any solution to their illegal) status in Tunisia – both refugees and rejected refugees are currently without a residence permit. You suggest them to resettle themselves in the Tunisian cities, but which kind of integration are you thinking about for people that UNHCR has denied of the international protection and who are now treated as illegal migrants in Tunisia?

In November and December 2013 several actions have taken place in Germany and Tunisia for the admission (in Germany) of all the refugees who had stayed at that time still in the Camp. Unfortunatly all those protestes were without success. Pictures and reportes of those protests one can find in the german version of this website – including many pictures:

Protests in November 2013

Protests in December 2013

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.

As you probably acknowledge, recognized Refugees from Choucha Refugee Camp have been on hungerstrike in front of the UNHCR office in Tunis since Friday, the 29.03.2013. I am writing to you, as I am very worried about the state of health of these persons and think that it is UNHCRs responsability to urgently find a solution for them. Furthermore, I learned that the Camp will close at the end of May 2013. Those Refugees will then take part of an “Integration Programme”, in some southern cities in Tunisia. This integration of Refugees in the tunisian society already gave signs of failure, as the protest of the Refugees, that had been “integrated” in Medenine, in front of the UNHCR office in Zarzis showed already.

Two years ago, on 19th March 2011, a coalition, led by France, Great Britain and the USA, started bombing Libya, and on 31st March, NATO officially declared war against the Gaddafi regime. Hundreds of thousands of people had to flee Libya, among them were many migrant workers and refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa, who were suspected of being of Gaddafi’s mercenaries. Tunisia left her borders open and accepted about half a million refugees. Most of them were accommodated in private houses, however a few thousands were placed in Choucha camp. It is situated in a desert-like region close to the Libyan border, and was opened by the UNHCR at the end of February 2011. At times it was hosting more than 20.000 people (most of them Sub-Saharan Africans).

After six days of protest with our negotiations and demands still intact. We did not quit our claims, neither give up nor surrender on our struggles. Our demands has to be met by the UNHCR. We are not “MIGRANTS” under Tunisien, but “ASYLUM”seekers under the UNHCR and we are demanding an asylum protection from the responsible (UNHCR), to re-install our normal services, just like everyone, general resettlement for everyone in a safe country counting effective system of protection.

This morning an open letter in solidarity with the protest in Tunis was sent to the Tunisian representative of UNHCR, Ursula Schulze Aboubacar, and Mr António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, himself. If you still want to sign the letter, direct an email to “choucha[aet]riseup[dot]net”

Dear Mrs. Ursula Schulze Aboubacar, Dear Mr. António Guterres,

we are activists and observers from different parts of the world. We were told by friends now in limbo in Choucha (with no hope either of settling there or of leaving) that they were staging a protest in Tunis addressing the UNHCR as well as the embassies of the US and the EU.

About 100 rejected asylum seekers from the refugee camp in Choucha are currently protesting in the Tunisian capital.

About 100 refugees from the refugee camp in Choucha, which lies on the border between Tunisia and Libya, reached Tunis on Monday 28th January in order to stage a protest that will continue for several days. They had no choice but to live in the desert for two years while the UNHCR negligently worked on their cases, and eventually rejected them as refugees. Since October 2012 they have been denied access to food and medical care. Now the protesters have taken the necessary steps to challenge their isolation and the consequent lack of prospects.

For more Information about the background of the Protest please go to Press