Over 2,235 Tunisian migrants reached Italy’s coasts illegally in August, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) said in a report released on September 10.
7,890 is the total number of Tunisians who landed in Italy illegally between January 1 and August 31, 2020.
The number of arrivals increased from July when 445 Tunisian migrants were reported to have reached Italy.
In the report, the FTDES revealed that despite tighter security in coastal areas, illegal crossings have been rising steadily compared to 2018 and 2019.
Between January 1 and August 31 this year, a reported 7,890 Tunisian migrants reached Italian coasts. This is compared to 1,347 arrivals during the same period last year and 3,351 in the year 2018, the observatory said.
However, the think tank also noted that coast guards have intensified their efforts to fight irregular migration. 672 attempted operations were blocked in eight months of this year, preventing a total of 8,516 people from reaching Italy’s coasts illegally.
In comparison, a reported 2,338 migrants were intercepted over the same period in 2019 and 3,534 in 2018.
TunisianMonitorOnline
