In July and August, around 8,000 people, the majority of them Tunisians, reached the Italian coast. A record figure, which is partly explained by a moribund economic and social situation in the country.
This summer, departures from Tunisia exploded. In August, 3,904 migrants reached the Italian coast, 40% more than in the same month last year. Tunisian authorities have prevented 5,582 people from leaving the country. Three-quarters of these interceptions were carried out at sea, with “the coordination of the Italian and European parties”, which according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (TFESR), “played a preponderant role”, indicates the association in its last report.
The region of Sfax, in the south-east, the second economic province after Tunis, concentrates more than half of the departures, at 56.6%. The cities of Medenine and Mahdia are other departure points for Tunisian migrants. The police carried out there respectively, in August, 14.15%, and 10.9% of the arrests.
Destination Italy
A new phenomenon observed this summer, the people intercepted are 71.5% of Tunisian nationality, “the highest figure this year”. On average, since January 2021, Tunisian nationals represent 46.88% of arrested migrants.
For the candidates for exile, the destination is located not far from the Tunisian coast, on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, wherefrom Sfax, the boats make “between one and two days of crossing”, had told InfoMigrants Nicolo Binello, an Italian doctor and member of Médecins sans frontières (MSF). In July, more than 4,000 people disembarked there. Some days this summer, its coasts even welcomed more than 800 arrivals in 24 hours.
Other Italian islands, such as Sicily, have also welcomed migrants from Tunisia. The latter represent 14.4% of all arrivals in Italy in the first semester this year and “thus constitute the second nationality of migrants disembarking on the Italian coasts”, according to the TFESR.
“Family migration”
Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 people in total have reached Italy from Tunisia. A figure up 27% compared to the same period in 2020. For the association, the causes of this increase are diverse. “The improvement of climatic conditions” for example pushed more exiles in the boats, revealing a “phenomenon of family migration”. In August, among the 3,904 people who came to Italy were also 502 unaccompanied minors, 138 accompanied minors, and 149 women.
Chamseddine Marzoug, a retired Tunisian fisherman met by InfoMigrants had this bitter experience. On August 14, his wife and two of his eight and six-year-old grandchildren set sail for Italy. According to him, most of the passengers on this boat were women and children. A form of “family reunification” organized clandestinely to bypass bureaucratic difficulties.
Another factor at the origin of this record exodus: “The economic and social context in Tunisia, which knows no evolution”, and arouses “a state of mistrust towards the future and a feeling of insecurity”, explains the TFESR. In early August, President Kaïs Saïed assured “that what happened in 2011 will not be repeated”, alluding to the resurgence of Tunisian departures after the fall of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. At that time, around 20,000 Tunisian nationals had landed at Lampedusa, crossing the Mediterranean.
But the figures for departures and the testimonies of Tunisians collected by the press contradict him. “In Tunis, there is no need to look long to find young people who are thinking of leaving the country, tells a report from RFI. Maher, 25, lives in these suburbs of Medina and has only this idea in the head immigrate”. The young man is not afraid to go to sea, despite the dangers. “What’s the problem? If I die in the sea, I don’t mind. Either way, it’s like living here. It wouldn’t make a difference. If God so decides, I would die.”
