On Thursday, May 2nd 2013, the camp management tried to push recognized refugees out of the camp.
As you can read in the blog post from 22.04., there was a group of 34 Eritreans, that arrived in September 2012 by sea. They started the program of local integration immediately and were settled in Mednine. But on April 17th 2013, they decided to leave Mednine, refusing this program. Instead they found shelter in Choucha and are since then living there. As they are refugees, they are under the protection of UNHCR, and thus demand protection in Choucha Camp and a durable solution for their future. On May 2nd, the camp management together with staff from UNHCR, Tunisian Red Crescent and soldiers, came to the Eritreans in Choucha and demanded their tents. They tried to force them to leave the camp. But the refugees could resist, blocking the tractor that was supposed to take the tents. Until now, no further attempts to push out the refugees have occurred.
Refugees should not be forced out of the camp, instead there should be a durable solution found to their lives!
