Tunisia Travel Ban for Citizens Under 35 'Arbitrary' - Watchdog

Eric Goldstein, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Middle East and North Africa division, condemned the Tunisian government imposed travel restrictions on its citizens under the age of 35.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Tunisian government acted in an arbitrary manner when it imposed travel restrictions on its citizens under the age of 35 to prevent them from joining extremist groups outside the country, as it uses age alone as a criterion, a human rights watchdog said Friday.

"Tunisian authorities have good reason to try to prevent Tunisians from engaging in criminal activity in Syria and elsewhere, but barring all travel by Tunisians simply on the basis of their age is unjustly broad and thus arbitrary," Eric Goldstein, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Middle East and North Africa division, said.

Since at least March 2015, Tunis airport police have banned Tunisians under 35 from traveling to other countries unless they could provide legal authorization from their father, the watchdog reported.

According to HRW, the government of Tunisia introduced travel restrictions as a measure to prevent citizens from becoming radicalized by jihadist groups fighting in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Such groups have reportedly recruited militants from Tunisia.

On June 26, Tunisia fell victim to second high-profile gun attack in three months when a local gunman opened fire in the country's northeastern Sousse resort hotel, killing 38 foreign tourists. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.