On the sidelines of his participation in the international conference on migration and development held yesterday in Rome, the Head of State gave a statement to the media, including La Presse .
The Head of State insisted on the fact that Tunisia will be neither a transit country nor a destination for migrants and that the Tunisian coast guards are only responsible for securing our own borders. “All parties are responsible for this crisis on the basis of human principles and values ,” he said, saying that many migrant-related issues were discussed at this conference.
Kaïs Saïed accused the existence of many networks of traffickers who exploit the misfortunes of migrants and who are involved in human trafficking, recalling that Tunisia is working to fight against these contexts, insisting on the African dimension of the country’s identity. “We are proud to be African, but no state will allow the existence of parallel structures on its territory ,” he said.
The Head of State mentioned in this sense the networks that facilitate the movement of migrants to Sfax in particular. “How is it that these migrants are targeting the city of Sfax exactly? There are criminal networks that facilitate these movements and migration movements ,” he further explained. Indeed, the Head of State warned against the proliferation of these networks, citing UN figures reporting profits reaching 150 billion dollars for these criminal organizations.
The President of the Republic recalled that previously, migration movements were in the direction of Tunisia and certain countries of the South, but nowadays, migration is from South to North because of the global distribution of work. “We must eradicate the causes of poverty and the contexts of precariousness in the countries of the South, we must mobilize envelopes in a fund intended for the development of African countries which will be fed by the restitution of looted funds and the conversion of debts into investments”, he explained .
The President of the Republic also denounced the inhuman treatment of migrants, saying that Tunisians have fulfilled their humanitarian mission in this regard.
