While the media tend never to establish any connection between “irregular immigration” and the “brain drain”, the motives behind these two types of emigration are far more similar than we are led to believe.
Migrants clandestins 9
Irregular migration: In Tunisian territorial waters, the army kills
In 2011 and 2017, two shipwrecks off the Tunisian coast involved units of the Tunisian navy. On both occasions, vessels carrying migrants to Italy were sunk. The first following a collision, the second having capsized at the end of a chase.
Eric, Ivorian and illegal in Tunisia
On December 23, 2018, Falikou Coulibaly, president of the Association of Ivorians in Tunisia, was killed during a robbery in Soukra (Greater Tunis). As protests led by the Subsaharian community multiplied across the capital, Nawaat met Eric. Settled in Tunisia since March 2017, the 31 year old Ivorian—like hundreds of his compatriots, has found himself uncapable of regularizing his status. Forced to relinquish his studies, Eric got a job as a construction worker. Racist acts of aggression, a lack of medical care and an exploitative work situation are some of the challenges he faces on a daily basis.
“Skadra”, a short documentary by Nawaat
Mohamed Aziz Khlifi, 16 years old, is from the delegation of Bir Lahfay in Sidi Bouzid. Walid Lahmar, 27 years old, is from Bir Ali Ben Khelifa in Sfax. Mohamed Ali Ferjani, 32 years old, is originally from Chneni, Gabes. The three of them were on board a boat to cross illegally from the coast of Kerkennah to Italy on October 8, 2017. These are three survivors of the collision with a Tunisian military ship. After the “Skadra” incident, they have returned to the reality they had set out to escape.
Redeyef youth in Lampedusa: marginalized at home, unwanted abroad
Two weeks ago, minister of the Interior Lotfi Brahem received Italian ambassador to Tunisia Raimondo De Cardona to strengthen cooperation on fighting crime and tackling illegal immigration. On the same day, October 18, 25 years old, Ahmed, from Redeyef reached Lampedusa illegally, on a boat carrying Tunisian youth mainly from the same small mining town in the mid-western governorate of Gafsa.
Families of Tunisian missing migrants denounce authorities’ indifference
On 31 May 2017, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) and the families of persons who went missing while making the illegal crossing over to Italy held a press conference to denounce a blackout of the investigation into the cases of those lost at sea. Families expressed their resentment around the procrastination of successive governments since 2008, indifference which has compelled the families to organize protests and hunger strikes in the hopes of pressuring the government to make headway into investigations. In this context, FTDES President Abderrahman Hedhili expressed his support for all protests carried out by the families of the missing migrants.
South to North and the Sea in Between: Politics of Migration in the Mediterannean
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.»
Collective of Venticinqueundici: The European Union Peace Is Not Ours
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.
The case of the missing Tunisian migrants: From one shore to another, lives which matter
The controversial affair of the Tunisian migrants lost at sea during the months of March, April and May 2011, continues to perplex Tunisian authorities as well as those on the Italian peninsula. This article aims to give a chronological account of the key facts surrounding this affair .
