EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: Outcomes of EU-Egypt summit spark criticism ― MSF ordered to leave Libya ― IOM calls Libya ‘dangerous place’ for people on the move ― NGO denounces IOM for hosting meeting with Libyan authorities ― Tunisia suspends NGOs ― Tunisian…

• The outcomes of the first-ever EU-Egypt summit have been criticised by NGOs.
• The humanitarian NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been ordered to leave Libya.
• The head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has spoken about the dire conditions faced by people on the move in Libya.
• A search and rescue NGO has criticised the IOM’s decision to organise a meeting with Libyan authorities and other partners.
• The Tunisian government has suspended the activities of a number of NGOs in the country.
• Six members of the Tunisian Refugee Council (CTR) have gone on trial in Tunis.

The EU held its first summit with Egypt in Brussels on 22 October. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described it as a “strategic summit” and emphasised Egypt’s partnership with the EU on regional issues and its efforts to curb irregular migration to Europe. He stated that no boats carrying people trying to reach Europe had left Egypt’s shores since 2016 and noted that the country was hosting more than 9.5 million refugees and other foreigners who had access to the same public services as Egyptian citizens. European Commission (EC) President Ursula Von der Leyen announced the signature of an agreement for the EU to provide € 5 billion of macro-financial assistance to Egypt, as well as Egypt’s association to the Horizon Europe research programme.

A number of NGOs were highly critical of the EU-Egypt summit and its outcomes. The Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE) argued that the significant financial support that the EU was providing to Egypt was funding “mechanisms of repression” disguised as “stability and development”. RPE Executive Director Nour Khalil told ECRE that Egypt had become “a border guard state for the European fortress”, a description that he said had been given by senior members of the Egyptian government, “including the foreign minister and the president himself”. Claudio Francavilla from Human Rights Watch said that, although EU financial support was conditionally tied to human rights progress, the EU was showing “little concern for Egypt’s ongoing repression” and that European investments were “rewarding authoritarian stability” rather than benefiting ordinary Egyptians. The NGOs’ criticisms were echoed by Dutch member of the European Parliament, Tineke Strik, who wrote on social media: “As Egypt keeps bragging to the EU about its commitment to human rights, this week marks the 7th year of pretrial detention of Lawyer Hoda Abdel-Moneim, whose health is deteriorating”. “True commitment to human rights, means the release of Hoda and many more illegally detained,” she added.

The humanitarian NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been ordered to leave Libya. According to a press release issued by MSF on 29 October, the Libyan government has ordered it to “leave the country” by 9 November.

MSF is one of ten humanitarian organisations that were ordered to suspend their operations in March 2025. Commenting on the decision, Steve Purbrick from MSF said that the organisation was “concerned about the consequences for the health of the people we assisted” who included “refugees and migrants, who are excluded from care and subject to arbitrary detention and serious violence in the country”. He added that no reason had been given to justify MSF’s expulsion and that the organisation hoped to be able to “find a positive solution” to the situation. On 3 November, an spokesperson for the EC told journalists in Brussels that it was consulting with the Libyan government and EU member state representatives on “possible coordinated actions”.

The head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has spoken about the dire conditions faced by people on the move in Libya. During an interview that she gave whilst on a visit to Morocco on 21 October, IOM Director General Amy Pope described Libya as the North African country “where migrants face the greatest challenges” and “a very dangerous and precarious place for many migrants who are coming through the hands of smugglers”. “We regularly hear reports from migrants about being kidnapped, being held for ransom, suffering abuse and assault” she said, adding: “I myself have heard many stories of migrants who’ve been detained by non-government actors and held for ransom or suffered abuse”.

On 29 October, the IOM mission in Libya announced on social media that it had brought together Libyan authorities, the United Nations in Libya and international NGOs to “strengthen migration governance and discuss expansion of safe, regular migration pathways”. The announcement was criticised by the search and rescue NGO Sea-Watch who condemned the IOM for “celebrating a meeting with the same government that simultaneously expelled MSF from Libya without reason”. “It is unacceptable for IOM to partner with human rights abusers instead of supporting migrant protection through independent civil organisations,” Sea-Watch added.

The Tunisian government has suspended the activities of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) for one month. On 27 October, FTDES received an official letter which notified it of the suspension and which included the same wording that had been sent two days earlier to the also-suspended Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD). According to Ramadhan Ben Omar from FTDES, the government has stated that the suspension was imposed in order to enable it to undertake a financial audit related to foreign funding that the organisation received. However, he told the Reuters news agency that the real aim was “to silence every independent voice within civil society”.

On 16 October, six members of the Tunisian Refugee Council (CTR) went on trial in Tunis. According to FTDES, which issued a statement in support of the six defendants, all of them are accused of “Forming a group with the purpose of advising, facilitating, assisting, or mediating, by any means, the clandestine entry of persons into Tunisian territory and providing them shelter”. Two of the six, 81-year-old CTR Director General Mustapha Djemali, and project manager, Abderrazek Krimi, have been held in pre-trial detention for more than 18 months. Following a request from the defendants’ legal team, the trial has been adjourned until 24 November.

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