The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that up to 600 people attempting to reach Europe by sea from Tunisia and Libya have gone missing in the first three months of 2022. This marks the highest such figure since 2014.
Two groups of migrants were rescued from the Central Mediterranean Sea by the Ocean Viking ship on Thursday. Hundreds of others due to disembark from the Geo Barents in Sicily were forced to remain on board without explanation.
A court in Palermo has heard that migrants who were stranded on board the Open Arms rescue ship in 2019 suffered "dire conditions" and psychological distress. Italy's former interior minister Matteo Salvini is facing trial for refusing to allow the migrants to disembark.
The Tunisian coast guard rescued 248 migrants in several separate incidents on Wednesday. They also retrieved three bodies from a boat which sank off the Tunisian coast.
214 men, women and children coming from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia have for the past two months been protesting in front of UNHCR offices in Tunis, calling for their rights to be recognized. Alessandra Sciurba, a university researcher in Tunisia and former chairman and spokesperson of Mediterranea Saving Humans met some of them and listened to their story.
UNHCR reports that over 3,000 people either died or went missing while trying to reach Europe via sea in 2021. The UN agency has asked for urgent measures to ward off an increase in people losing their lives on these journeys.
More than 20 people lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya at the weekend. An official in the Tunisian town of Sfax said they have run out of room to bury the dead.
A group of Tunisian and international NGOs have issued a statement expressing their solidarity with migrants and refugees protesting against the UNHCR in Tunisia.
Refugees and migrants are protesting in front of the UNCHR offices in Zarzis in southeastern Tunisia demanding evacuation to other countries.
Two migrant boats overturned in the space of a few hours on Saturday off the coast of Tunisia. At least 13 bodies have been recovered -- among them six children and six women. About a dozen are still reported missing.
Tunisians – who make up more than 70% of migrants deported from Italy – often lack access to legal representation and face inhumane living conditions at pre-deportation centers, according to a recent paper published by three advocacy groups.
The bodies of 25 people were washed up on the coast of Tunisia over the weekend. According to the UN Migration Agency IOM, the migrants had probably been in a boat carrying about 60 migrants.