This Sunday, Tunisia observes World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and the 5th anniversary of its accession to the relevant convention, at a time when this scourge is experiencing a spectacular upsurge in the number of irregular migrants heading for Tunisia from African countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.
Tunisia has enacted a law prohibiting human trafficking (organic law of August 3, 2016) and created a national authority to combat human trafficking under the same law.
In 2018, Tunisia acceded to the European Council Convention on Trafficking in Human Beings and, in the same year, joined the international “Blue Heart” campaign, which aims to raise public awareness of the need to detect and identify victims of trafficking.
In 2002, Tunisia was ranked second in the world in the fight against human trafficking.
However, the country has been facing a significant social and security challenge in recent months, with an unprecedented increase in the number of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, with the help of criminal networks operating on a global scale.
Faced with this phenomenon, Tunisia, which now places this issue at the top of its priorities, has requested the support of the European Union and the United Nations in its fight against cross-border networks active in human trafficking and organ smuggling.
Last Sunday, at the International Conference on Migration and Development in Rome, President Kais Saied stressed the need to tackle the causes and origins of the growing phenomenon of irregular migration, expressing a convergence of views with the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, on the creation of a new global financial institution to be fed by cancelled loans and funds recovered from banks in the North.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on July 16 between Tunisia and the European Union, which provides for implementing a series of measures in five key areas: youth employment, economic development, investment, strengthening trade and digital transition, and combating illegal migration.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse