Violence Targets Stranded Migrants As Tunisia Obstructs Their Path To Europe

A stretch of olive groves along North Africa’s Mediterranean coast is one of the final destinations for many migrants who have long dreamed of reaching Europe.

But for many people in Tunisia, which is fewer than 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the Italian islands that make up the outermost boundaries of the European Union, that ideal has turned into a nightmare.

Men, women, and children wait for their opportunity to board one of the iron boats that smugglers use for payment to carry people to Italy under black tarps covered with blankets and ropes. After escaping persecution, poverty, conflict, or climate change, they are stuck in Tunisia, unable to travel to Europe but lacking the funds to go back home.

The International Organization for Migration of the United Nations stated that it believes between 15,000 and 20,000 migrants are stuck in rural olive groves close to the central Tunisian coastline, based on unofficial figures.

According to early estimates offered by the EU, their presence is a result of anti-migration policies being promoted in Tunisia and throughout Europe, especially by right-wing lawmakers who achieved significant wins in last week’s European Union legislative elections.

Since last year, as authorities have forced migrants from towns and increased measures to stop them from crossing the Mediterranean, the encampments have gotten larger.