The IOM assisted 226 victims of human trafficking in Tunisia between 2012 and 2017. Tunisia's mufti, the country's highest religious authority, has meanwhile declared clandestine migration to be prohibited.
From 2012 until 2017, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified and provided assistance to 226 victims: 194 from the Ivory Coast, 12 from Nigeria, five from Senegal, and two each from Colombia, Mali, Bangladesh and Cameroon. Seven of them were children, the rest mainly women. Out of the women, 85 percent had been ensnared in domestic servitude or forced labor. The IOM reported 4 cases of sexual exploitation and one case of enslavement.
Details on human trafficking in Tunisia
Most of the victims that IOM assisted were in Sfax (42 percent), Tunis (39 percent), or Sousse (7 percent), followed by Gabes, Nabeul and Hammamet. In 2017, the IOM assisted 114 new victims of human trafficking, a significant figure when compared with previous years (54 in 2016, 28 in 2015 and only 8 in 2013). This rise in numbers has been attributed to the implementation of a new Tunisian law against human trafficking, which came into force in August 2016. There have also been several awareness-raising campaigns by the IOM and various NGOs, as well as the Commission for the Fight against Human Trafficking (ILCTP). Although it has been alleged that judicial actions against those reported for exploiting people are not being taken in a timely manner, this is nevertheless an important step in protecting human trafficking victims, IOM noted. It added that an organized crime network in the Ivory Coast had the worst record in the country for human trafficking.
Clandestine migration is 'prohibited'
Othman Battikh, mufti of the Tunisian Republic, which is the highest religious authority in the country, has declared clandestine emigration to be "haram" ("prohibited") under Islamic law. In statement to the media, Battikh said that "the young who choose these dangerous trips risk their lives and can easily die in the high seas, leaving their families and their country behind." He ended by quoting a Koranic verse that states that "a danger that offends people, their property and their families is a sin." Putting one's life in danger is thus a sin for Muslims, he implied. The Algerian High Council for Fatwas has also said that clandestine emigration is "haram" and Minister for Religious Affairs Mohamed Aissa has said in recent days that he will work so that mosques conveys the message to youths that the act of reaching European coasts is prohibited from a religious standpoint, and is illegal as well.