As Serbia expulses dozens of Tunisians from Belgrade, thousands of others are making their way towards Europe along the Balkan route. « I can count on one hand the number of them who are still here », says a sixty-something-year-old resident of a small village in the center of Djerba. Report.
Tunisia is home to an ever-growing migrant population. And yet many migrants remain in an irregular situation. In the absence of a complete legal framework for refugees and asylum seekers, access to health services for this heterogeneous community is not only inadequate, but in some cases even non-existent. For certain migrants, their inability to seek proper treatment is a disadvantage with potentially fatal consequences.
Under the bilateral repatriation agreement signed between Italy and Tunisia in April 2011, the hopes and aspirations of thousands of Tunisian youths have been shattered. This film tells the story and journey of five Tunisian migrants deported from Italy. From the “gouna” to Lampedusa and from Palermo to Ennfidha airport, they testify about the reasons that led them to leave, the conditions of their journey and their disappointments.
Since the beginning of February, the EU’s revamped strategy to reduce the number of migrants arriving on European shores has suscitated fervent reactions from south to north of the Mediterranean. On February 3, European Council members met in La Valetta, Malta, where they signed a declaration committing to « step up our work with Libya as the main country of departure as well as with its North African and sub-Saharan neighbors. » On the heels of the summit, the Tunisian government has, more or less, followed the lead of its European partners, having been promised sizeable economic packages in exchange for cooperation in curbing the human flow across the Mediterranean.
Members of the Coordination of Associations for Immigration and Tunisians Abroad (CAITE) gathered in Tunis last Thursday to articulate their demands for a representative body. The association has criticized the associated Draft Law 015/2015 concerning the creation of a National Council, which CAITE members “cannot accept in its present version.”
As civil society and political forces across the Mediterranean debate Europe’s Agenda on Migration, in Tunisia it is the absence of a comprehensive national strategy, cohesive immigration legislation and designated State institutions which is at the heart of migration discussions.
Integral to Tunisia’s internal security operations is its cooperation with foreign governments. Partnerships with Italy, France, and the United States address national security as well as regional security issues including immigration, trafficking, and terrorism. The operations of G8 Leader countries in the MENA region are (unofficially but observably) distinctive and complementary: Italy oversees migration in the Mediterranean; France via the Ministry of the Interior focuses on national security and the police, and the United States Department of Defense is engaged in a «war on terrorism.»
At the beginning of the month, Journalist Farhat Othman criticized the Italian Interior Minister’s visit to Tunisia, observing that an offering of patrol boats, in the guise of support against terrorism and contraband, could only be intended for support against clandestine immigration since it consists of «patrol vessels mandanted by the cooperation agreement linking Tunisia and Italy since 2011 after the massive wave of Tunisians to Italy.» As if to provide a caricature of European politicans obsessed by preserving EU security, Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a cheering crowd of supporters in Nice earlier this week, calling for the «refounding» of the Schengen Area and «a real immigration policy to put an end to social tourism in our country.»
On December 10th some EU representatives will go to Oslo to receive the award. Together with many other women and men, we can’t but express our deepest opposition to this award decision which hints at a conception of peace which is different from ours, an idea of peace which can’t be ours.
New figures reveal that more than 20,000 knife crimes were committed in the UK last year. Peter Evans was shocked […]
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