‘I wake up in pain’: Refugees struggle in Tunisian winter

For refugees in Tunis facing abuse from police while aid is blocked, the cold is their greatest enemy now. Some are waiting for a “refugee card” – a temporary UNHCR registration document valid for one year showing a person’s legal status as a refugee – others are waiting for the calm seas that will make their passage between Tunisia and Europe less treacherous. “I’ve been living here for two months,” says 20-year-old Matteaus Osman.” The cold makes it difficult. “According to several international agency reports we obtained, people holding documentation have also not only been subject to unlawful arrest and imprisonment but they have also been caught up in the illegal, violent expulsions to border and desert areas that have been ongoing in large numbers since at least early summer and which have entailed widespread injury as well as dozens of deaths,” Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, told Al Jazeera by email. “There appears to be very little oversight or accountability when it comes to abusive practices – despite the repeated protection concerns voiced by Tunisian organisations, international agencies and foreign governments.” Arrivals in Europe from Tunisia have almost doubled since last year, heightening tensions in southern European countries, but giving refugees here hope that they might make it across the Mediterranean – if they can survive the dangerous crossing.