Tunisia has said it will not be a “reception centre” for returns of sub-Saharan migrants from Italy or any other country in Europe despite a groundbreaking €1bn deal signed on Sunday.

Authorities in the north African country are determined not to enter a contract similar to that which the UK has with Rwanda and will take back only Tunisians who have made irregular entry to the EU.

This appears to be a setback for the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who won significant compromises last month in the wording of draft migration legislation that would enable authorities to return people to countries they were smuggled through even if they were in the country for only a few days or weeks.

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/17/tunisia-not-reception-centre-returns-sub-saharan-migrants-eu

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Opposition politicians said Tunisia’s lowest ever turnout stripped away any facade of democratic legitimacy for Saied’s political project and called directly for his ouster.

The election was for a mostly toothless legislature that is a part of a top-down political system Saied has imposed since he seized most powers and sent tanks to shut down the previous parliament in July 2021.

“After 90% of Tunisians abstained there is no doubt that Saied’s project was largely rejected. Now the options are limited for a president who can no longer constantly sing of legitimacy in the way he used to,” said Ahmed Idriss, head of the Tunis Institute for Politics.

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Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/dismal-election-turnout-puts-tunisia-presidents-legitimacy-under-spotlight-2022-12-18/

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ROME – Twice-weekly charter flights of up to 80 people who Italian authorities describe as illegal economic migrants resumed this week from Italy to Tunisia. The flights, part of an Italian-Tunisian agreement, were put on hold during Italy’s COVID-19 lockdown. Italy saw a sharp increase in migration last month that has put a strain on migrant reception centers, particularly in the south of the country.

The growing number of illegal immigrants arriving from North Africa concern the Italian authorities, who have had a number of recent meetings with their Tunisian counterparts to address the issue.

At the end of July, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said that unless Tunisia took significant measures to rein in the departures, Italy would suspend 6.6 million euro in cooperation funds for Tunisia’s development.

After a spike in Tunisian arrivals, Italy’s Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese flew to Tunis at the end of last month.

She said that in July, the number of illegal Tunisian migrants reaching Italy increased significantly due to the country’s serious economic crisis. These, she added, are economic migrants who have no right to remain in Italy.

Migrants from Tunisia and Lybia arrive onboard an Italian Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard) boat on the Italian Pelagie Island of Lampedusa, Aug. 1, 2020.

Italy’s requests included the stepping up of controls along the Tunisian coastline and a resumption of the twice-weekly repatriation flights that were taking place ahead of the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. More than 4,000 Tunisians have arrived in Italy since the start of this year.

Following the pressure applied by the Italian Foreign Ministry, Tunisia agreed to resume the flights and said it would increase patrol teams and surveillance along its coastline in order to stem illegal migration towards Italy.

Reception centers in Italy, having to deal with the COVID-19 emergency, have been struggling to cope with the number of migrants, who amount to 14,000 since the start of the year.

The reception center in the southern island of Lampedusa again reached its bursting point at the start of this month. The center at Pozzallo in southern Sicily reached a similar point, and migrants began leaving the center.

Italian authorities are now testing all migrants who arrive on its shores for coronavirus and have deployed ships off the coast of Sicily and Calabria, where migrants can isolate. After their 14-day quarantine, the migrants will move to a variety of reception centers across Italy.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/europe/italy-resumes-migrant-deportations

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Coronavirus lockdowns are making the recovery of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence who have been forced to flee their homes even harder, according to our new research.

Following a request by Refugee Women Connect, an NGO working with forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, we undertook 97 interviews in the UK, Tunisia, Turkey, Sweden, and Australia between April 14 and 28. The work builds on an ongoing research project we’re conducting with refugee survivors of sexual violence and the service providers which support them.

Forced migrants, many of whom live in crowded, sometimes makeshift accommodation with poor access to food, sanitary items, and healthcare, are at particular risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who are also survivors of sexual violence told us how some of the lockdown restrictions are exacerbating their existing vulnerabilities, leaving them at heightened risk of psycho-social problems, destitution, and even further abuse.

At risk of more violence

In Tunisia and Turkey, we heard that only certain groups of forced migrants, for example, those with refugee status, could access support and this was inadequate to cover their basic needs. We heard how work in the informal economy for those with no access to social welfare had dried up, often leaving survivors without any income.

Many women survivors previously relied heavily on NGOs for material and social support. But with face-to-face NGO services stopping or moving online, many of the women we interviewed lacked the basic digital resources necessary to maintain their social connections and make contact with service providers.

One Syrian woman living in Ankara, who is a survivor of both domestic violence and war and now lives alone with her two daughters in unfurnished accommodation, told us:

Whenever I contact the charities, they tell me it is difficult to help me amid this crisis. I am just waiting for this to end so that they can help me. I feel that all the doors have been closed.

The precarious position many survivors of sexual violence are in has also increased their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation during the crisis. Some NGOs that we spoke to as part of the research feared that women would have little choice but to remain in abusive relationships during the pandemic.

In Tunisia, some NGOs told us that unaccompanied adolescent girls had been forced into prostitution during the lockdown. In the UK, trafficked women feared that they would be contacted by their former traffickers, aware that they were desperate for resources. Some NGOs were concerned that the numbers at risk of trafficking would increase.

One Nigerian woman, who is an asylum seeker living in the UK, told us COVID-19 meant she’d become scared of the people around her. She said she was “sometimes worried the traffickers will get my number and make more threats”.

Opportunities to escape domestic violence, which other studies show has increased during the lockdown, were also reduced for the survivors. Unable to access support from NGOs or public services, with sheltered housing closed or unavailable to many forced migrants, women told us they stayed put. In Turkey, some perpetrators of sexual violence and domestic violence were released from prison, which increased women’s levels of risk and anxiety.

A woman on a deserted street in Istanbul during the coronvairus lockdown. Sedat Suna/EPA

Flashbacks and mental stress

Another grave concern for women and the NGOs supporting them was the increased risk to survivors’ mental health. Forced migrant women can suffer multiple traumas, and often experience sexual or gender-based violence at multiple points in their refugee journey.

Women were unable to continue with treatment for physical injuries, but the greatest harm came from a combination of isolation and the suspension of mental health therapies. For some, the loss of freedom reminded them of their own previous imprisonment, while others said they spent a lot of time “overthinking” past experiences and having flashbacks.

Others had begun to gently rebuild their lives after losing trust in humanity, through therapeutic relations with a support worker or by participating in self-help networks. Some women felt they were slipping backward with the loss of access to these lifelines. One Eritrean woman living in Tunisia with irregular migrant status said she can no longer think about her future:

I now hate my life, I feel as if I were in a jail…the corona came to destroy everything…everything became so hard for us, as if we were frozen inside a refrigerator.

Hopelessness was reinforced by the suspension of some asylum cases in the UK, residence applications in Turkey, and resettlement programmes in Tunisia. Many of our interviewees found themselves stuck in legal limbo with no idea when they would emerge. Some asylum processes have now shifted to remote working. However, without support for survivors from NGOs and social networks, the process of disclosing sensitive information about sexual abuse and torture could risk reopening the trauma.

As well as access to free medical services, survivors urgently require cash to cover food and hygiene costs and access to digital devices. Our findings highlight the grim reality for these women and the need for urgent action to ensure that they survive the crisis and can move on with their lives without encountering further harm.

Click here, if you would like to contact the Samaritans.

Source: https://theconversation.com/i-feel-that-all-the-doors-have-been-closed-lockdowns-are-making-life-even-harder-for-migrant-survivors-of-sexual-violence-138856

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