We publish the communiqué translated into Italian by the Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux on the visit of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Tunis and the tragic situation of migrants in Tunisia.

Today, Tuesday 6 June 2023, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will pay an official visit to Tunis to meet President Kais Saied. The visit was agreed following a telephone conversation between Saied and Meloni on 2 June, during which "Italy's continued support for Tunisia in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and in the management of migratory flows" was underlined.

Italy's support is aimed at curbing departures from Tunisia, whether by Tunisian citizens or foreigners, and facilitating and speeding up forced returns from Italy. The Italian government's migration policy has a direct impact on Tunisians in Italy. In 2020 and 2021, lə Tunisinə citizens were the first to be detained lə in Italian Centres of Permanence for Repatriation (CPR) lə first to be repatriated lə.

A recent study also denounced the inhumane treatment of migrants, including many Tunisian migrants, in these centres.

Cooperation between the two countries does not cover the procedures for identifying the bodies of people who die at sea, nor the repatriation of the bodies.

Moreover, the substantial funding provided by Italy, around 47 million since 2014, has only served to strengthen the Tunisian security apparatus, with the ministries of interior and defence as the main recipients.

Moreover, the technical and commercial cooperation that Italy wants to maintain with Tunisia does not benefit the Tunisian people in any way, since to benefit from it one needs to obtain a visa, which remains a chimera for many Tunisians.

At a time when Italy has renewed its classification of Tunisia as a safe country of origin, the country is facing a serious economic, social and political crisis and the Tunisian government's only priority is to prosecute and imprison activistsə, trade unionsə, journalistsə and political opponentsə.

Moreover, the events of February 2023, with President Kais Saied's declaration that he was concerned that the 'hordes of illegal migrants' could 'change the demographic composition of Tunisia', have significantly worsened the living conditions of the migrant population in Tunisia.

In the current context, Tunisia cannot be considered a safe country for migrants.

The Italian government's aim is to make Tunisia the guardian of its borders, particularly in terms of intercepting boats in territorial waters and transferring them to Tunisia, and to encourage a superficial stabilisation of the country in order to prevent more and more Tunisians from leaving. From 1 January to 31 May, Tunisia intercepted 23,110 migrants (10 times more than in the same period in 2020).

Therefore, the undersigned associations

- Recall that mobility is a human right and that it is precisely because of these externalisation and security policies of the two States that thousands of people, Tunisians and foreigners, are losing their lives, forced to travel along increasingly dangerous routes;

- They recall that cooperation and neighbourhood policies must promote the interests of the Tunisian people and urge the Tunisian government to refrain from playing the role of policeman of the Mediterranean;

- They recall that the ongoing discussions with the Italian authorities on cooperation in border control and the fight against human trafficking leave Tunisian territorial waters and territory open to interference by European security forces. 

- They call for consideration of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 30 March, which condemned the Italian government for violating chapters 3, 5 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights against four Tunisian migrants, and for an end to the mass expulsions of Tunisian migrants from Italy.

- They denounce the ideological rapprochement between the Tunisian and Italian governments, characterised by xenophobic and racist statements.

- They call on the governments to establish the truth and ensure justice for the suspicious death of Wissem Ben Abdellatif, who died on 28 November 2002, tied to a bed in the San Camillo hospital in Rome, after being transferred from the Ponte Galeria reanimation unit.

Credit photo: ANSA