Tunisian security forces have been committing serious abuses against black African migrants, says leading NGO Human Rights Watch.

The findings in a report out on Wednesday (19 July) comes as the EU and Tunisia signed a deal to stem migration flows.

Based on interviews with migrants and refugees, as well as Tunisian-based civil society, the report says the violence has been committed by the police, military, and the coast guard.

The report throws an increasingly long shadow over the EU deal with Tunisia, whose autocrat leader president Kais Saied had earlier this year ordered a crackdown against migrants.

Part of that deal includes shoring up Tunisia’s land and sea borders through an additional €105m of EU funding. The country is also set to get eight new search-and-rescue vessels. Another 17 refurbished boats from a previous agreement are also in the pipeline.

Lauren Seibert, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said the financial support to Tunisia means the EU also needs to share responsibly for the suffering of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Tunisia.

“Border control is no justification for trampling rights and ignoring international protection responsibilities,” she said in a statement.

The report also comes amid warnings from UN experts against collective pushbacks by Tunisian authorities.

Reports have been emerging of sub-Saharan African migrants dumped along Tunisia’s border with Libya and Algeria, leaving many destitute and exposed to extremely harsh desert conditions without any food or water. Human Rights Watch, in their report, say up 1,200 people were expelled.

The UN experts have since asked the Tunisian government to end the deportations, as well as to stamp out the racist hate speech against migrants in the country.