More than one thousand migrants from Tunisia arrived in Spain and Italy in the first half of this year. That's according to a report by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) on irregular immigration.
A total of 1,019 Tunisian migrants arrived in Italy and Spain in the first half of 2019, according to a report presented in Tunis by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) on irregular immigration. During the same period, 1,008 mostly sub-Saharan and Syrian migrants arrived in Tunisia, the report said.
Numbers down
FTDES Executive Director Ala Talbi said Tunisia tops the list of countries for the number of irregular migrants who have reached Italy (594), followed by Pakistan (426) and Algeria (271). He said numbers to Italy have dropped significantly in 2019, compared to the 3,002 migrants who reached Italy in the same period in 2018.
He said a total of 1,266 migrant departures by sea took place in the first half of 2019, and a total of 423 Tunisians went missing in the same period. A total of 2,323 Tunisian citizens were repatriated by Italy in 2018, Talbi said.
The number of illegal attempts to cross Tunisian land borders is on the rise, with 301 attempts in the first half of 2019 compared to 105 in the same period in 2018. There were a total of 417 irregular migrants by land in the first half of the year.