The preliminary results of a field survey carried out by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) on the situation of migrants in Tunisia, based on a sample of 379 migrants, show that 60% of those interviewed entered Tunisia via the land border with Algeria.
The official spokesman for the FTDES, Romdhane Ben Amor, pointed out during a press conference to present the preliminary results of this study that 23% of the migrants surveyed arrived via the land border with Libya, indicating that the borders with Algeria and Libya are the main points of entry into Tunisia.
He noted that 44.9% of sub-Saharan migrants said they had followed the migration route on foot, compared with 9.8% who had used transport to reach Tunisia.
This field survey, carried out between March and May 2024 in Greater Tunis, Sfax and Zarzis, was based on a sample of 72% men and 28% women.
It showed that almost 63% were irregular migrants, of whom 25% were asylum seekers. The migrants who took part in the study came from 23 African countries, including Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire.
The field survey conducted by the FTDES focused on five key areas, including “routes and conditions of arrival”, “conditions of stay in Tunisia”, “social relations and relationships with others” and “interactions with public institutions and civil society actors”, he added.
The reasons for migration are political and economic, he said, stressing that these migrants are fleeing repressive regimes (66%), climate change and violence, which are the main reasons for irregular migration.
Precarious living conditions
According to Ben Amor, the survey found that 75.4% of the migrants interviewed had been forced to change their place of residence several times to avoid intervention by the security authorities, while more than half lived in precarious conditions (on the streets, in parks and under trees). He noted that 77% of migrants said they had been victims of one or more forms of violence.
In terms of access to health services, 65.2% of the migrants interviewed frequently went to the pharmacy to buy medicines in case of illness and 56.5% used traditional methods of treatment, while 24% went to the hospital and 7.9% to private clinics.
The final version of this field study will be published in September or October.
Over 47,000 people arrested!
According to official statistics recently published by the Ministry of the Interior, 74,464 people were apprehended trying to cross the sea borders to Europe, between January 1 and July 14, 2024, compared to around 45,000 for the whole of 2022.
Tunisia is engaged in a process of consultation and cooperation with its immediate neighbors. Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani recently met his Libyan counterpart, Abdelhamid Dbeiba, in Tripoli as part of the Trans-Mediterranean Forum on Migration, according to a press release issued by the government of National Unity.
Hachani stressed the need to coordinate joint efforts to curb and combat irregular migration.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed a number of issues of common interest, including the progress of work at the Ras Jedir border crossing following its reopening in recent days, the issue of prisoners from both countries and the strengthening of relations between the two brotherly peoples.
