Five thousand Tunisians died on migration boats

A new survey, entitled “Youth and Irregular Migration in Tunisia” revealed that 45% of Tunisian youth are willing to emigrate, or are at least considering the matter, even if in illegal ways, while 9.2% of the respondents in the study confirmed their involvement in secret immigration routes. Fifteen percent of respondents said they were in contact with an illegal immigration center.

This huge number is not surprising given the high number of arrests on the maritime border. According to the data provided by the security forces, each secret immigration operation is seized in Tunisia, there are three other successful operations.

Nabeul and Benazir have the highest number of illegal immigration attempts, while the number of arrested women rose to 10% of the number of migrants arrested last month. Nabeul and Bizerte topped the Tunisian states in the number of illegal immigration attempts came as a result of their proximity to the Italian territory, as their coasts are 60 kilometers from Sicily.

In the same context, the youth of the capital's popular neighborhoods favor the beaches of Bizerte and Nabeul because of the length of their coastal strip, and because of the proliferation of intermediaries and brokers who are active in bringing together migrants from all over Tunisia.

The Tunisian navy monitored the increasing dependence of smugglers on sophisticated and fast boats, up to 200 horsepower, as they take only an hour and a half to reach Italian coast from Tunisia. The Tunisian migrant pays between 3 to 7 thousand dinars to the smugglers. According to testimonies, if the trip’s price is lower, the number of migrants on the boat increases, while the opportunity of safe access to their destination reduces.

Five thousand Tunisians have been killed in death boats since 2011, and to date, according to a documented census, 35,000 Tunisian migrants have poured into Lampedusa. The number of missing Tunisians in Italy, according to the latest census, is 504.