Tunisia: Tunisians immigrating in masses to Italy and Europe

In the month since the revolution in January, many Tunisians have been illegally leaving the country for their own safety, many migrating to Italy. On February 13, Italy’s interior minister proposed that the country send armed forces to Tunisia to help the flow of illegal immigrants slow down. In the week proceeding, more than 3,000 Tunisians arrived in Italy illegally at the island of Lampedusa. Hundreds have been sleeping outside because of the lack of facilities available to such a large influx. The Interior Ministry reopened an immigrant-holding center on the island and has begun taking some of the immigrants to identification centers in Sicily. In order to make such a proposal a reality, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni will need to receive authorization from Tunisia’s foreign minister. Illegal immigration to Italy from North Africa has always been an issue because of the hard to patrol coastline of the nation but in recent months the problem has obviously increased with the dangerous living situation that is Tunisia. In 2009, an agreement between Italy and Tunisia was signed in which Italy pledged financial support for Tunisia’s pledge to make a greater effort to prevent illegal immigrants from leaving the ports. This agreement has obviously not been as easy to enforce with the increased turmoil in Tunisia past month. Interviewed Tunisians are not picky about where they could go in Europe, as long as it is not back to Tunisia.

Although the Tunisian revolution overthrew a corrupt dictator, the resulting climate is not stable. As a result, many Tunisians are trying to escape the chaos to Europe. Italy is the easiest country to reach and hence, many are moving in that direction. Those who have immigrated should be treated as refugees and taken in by Europe but when so many are arriving at one time, it is a burden on the states of Europe as well. It is a difficult issue to handle and Italy’s reaction is logical but the fate of those who are forced to stay in Tunisia is not very positive. Unless Tunisia is able to set up a more stable government system in the vacuum that has resulted since January, Tunisians will still do anything possible to immigrate to Europe even if Italy does get approval to send armed forces into the country.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/europe/14boats.html?ref=tunisia