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Data

Focus on migration statistics in Tunisia 2023. A report published on 05 September 2023 by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDS). The data reveals the ineffectiveness of the State’s approach to combating irregular migration, which focuses essentially on security interventions, neglecting other means of adequately managing the considerable flow of migrants and ensuring their safety.

The tragedies of irregular migration on Tunisia’s coasts in 2023

January 28 Dead and missing

28/1290

February 7 Dead and missing

7/1290
March 92 Dead and missing
28/1290
April 373 Dead and missing
373/1290
May 34 Dead and missing
34/1290
June 74 Dead and missing
74/1290
July 22 Dead and missing
22/1290
August 55 Dead and missing
55/1290
September 44 Dead and missing
44/1290
Others* 523 Dead and missing
523/1290
TOTAL 1290 Dead and missing
1290/1290
NB: Other*: Data declared by the Minister of the Interior and not collected by the FTDES.

Browse this link to access the full statistics on migration in Tunisia 2023.

Number of migrants intercepted by the Tunisian authorities

January 2322 Migrants intercepted
2332/48349
February 5147 Migrants intercepted
5147/48349
March 7494 Migrants intercepted
7494/48349
April 4756 Migrants intercepted
4756/48349
May 4049 Migrants intercepted
9404/48349
June 3528 Migrants intercepted
3528/48349
July 848 Migrants intercepted
848/48349
August 4427 Migrants intercepted
4427/48349
September 8781 Migrants intercepted
8781/48349
Other figures (Statements by the spokesman for the National Guard) 7664 migrants intercepted
7664/48349
TOTAL 48349 Migrants intercepted
48349/48349
NB: Other*: Data declared by the Minister of the Interior and not collected by the FTDES.

Data by FTDES

In this associative ecosystem that tirelessly fights for the right to response and the right to mobility and existence, it seems indispensable for us to take into account the constant work on the issue of the disappeared and the mobilization of all associations on the ground.

Each association, born from the pain and anger in post-revolutionary Tunisia since 2011, emerges from the families of the missing. They rise, protest, and demand justice. They demand that Tunisian and European authorities shed light on these shattered lives. “Not among the living, nor among the dead. Where are they?”

Tunisia (Tunis), 9-12-2022. A demonstration took place in front of the National Theater of Tunisia on the occasion of the official visit of Italy’s far-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. Italy wants to outsource immigration control to the Tunisian authorities. Various associations & families of those lost at sea, such as La Terre pour Tous and Mem-Med,’ gathered with a unified message echoing since 2011: “Where are our boys?”

L’Association La Terre pour tous

Activist Imed Soltani, self-defined as a “fighter”, is at its helm. He wages this war against border policies both the public and virtual spaces. His tools of combat: a microphone to amplify the heart-wrenching cry of “where are our children,” seeking to break through the walls of ministries and embassies during his numerous protests. On his Facebook page, he vehemently condemns bilateral agreements, calls out the authorities, and plays the role of a “notice board” for the families of the missing. La Terre pour Tous defends all causes related to freedom of movement, and alongside him stand the mothers of the missing persons, symbols of suffering and endurance.

L’Association des mères de migrants disparus

They are mothers, sisters, and daughters of those missing between 2011 and 2021, united in a movement where their pain occupies the center of discourse and protest actions. This association draws its symbolic legitimacy from their prominent position, founded with the support of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH). Seven families come together, finding in collective action a means to strengthen their power of advocacy with governments. Their fundamental objective: to find their loved ones, whether they are alive or deceased.

L’Association Mem.Med – Memoria Mediterranea 

They are researchers, anthropologists, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, mediators, geographers, activists, and mothers of the disappeared operating in the Mediterranean space to critically analyze the borders that delineate it, the migratory processes that cross it, and the policies that regulate them. Mem.med supports families and communities in the search for deceased or missing individuals at sea or in other border areas. This operational tool in Sicily, Sardinia, and Tunisia offers legal and psychological support, as well as a space for memory, testimonies, and awareness: “Fighting against the violence of these policies means, above all, turning memory into a political act to never allow these existences and these violences to be forgotten”says one of the association’s members.