Brussels withholds findings of Tunisia human rights inquiry

The European Commission is refusing to publish the findings of a human rights inquiry into Tunisia it conducted shortly before announcing a migration deal with the increasingly authoritarian north African country.

- Mark Townsend

An investigation by the EU ombudsman found the commission had carried out a "risk management exercise" into rights concerns in Tunisia but would not disclose its results. Until now, Brussels had repeatedly stated there was no need for a human rights impact assessment into last year's deal, which has been linked to myriad abuse allegations.

Even when the watchdog - an independent body that holds EU institutions to account - formally requested the findings of its inquiry, the European Commission refused to share the findings, prompting concerns over what it had discovered.

"The ombudsman found that, despite repeated claims by the commission that there was no need for a prior HRIA [human rights impact assessment], it had in fact completed a risk management exercise for Tunisia before the [deal] was signed," the watchdog said in a report published yesterday.