STRUGGLES ALONG THE TUNISIAN ROUTE

ECHOES Issue 4, January 2023

Early in January 2023, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,

Antonio Tajani, announced that he will go "soon" to visit Tunisia to ask the Tunisian

authorities for a stronger commitment to combat the "irregular departures" of migrants and

to encourage a greater number of repatriations. Shortly before, the Council adopted an

action plan proposed by the Commission to further increase controls in the central

Mediterranean. Alongside Egypt and Libya, Tunisia is targeted to "develop jointly targeted

actions to prevent irregular departures, support more effective border and migration

management, and reinforce search and rescue capacities".

While Tunisia has seen an increase in departures from its coastline in recent months, it is

increasingly the target of European countries' border externalization policies and controls

are being tightened along the route to Italy. While this route is still not well known by civil

SAR actors, the CMRCC proposes to dedicate this 4th issue of Echoes to developments and

struggles along the Tunisian route.