(Reuters) The number of Tunisian migrants landing on Italian shores soared fivefold to 13,000 in 2020, a rights group said on Tuesday, citing economic privations in Tunisia that fuel migration in boats across the Mediterranean.
Tunisia has come under strong pressure from European nations on opposite shores of the Mediterranean to stem the flow of migrants, especially after a deadly Islamist attack at a church in the French city of Nice by a Tunisian migrant last year.
The Tunisian Forum [for] Economic and Social Rights said that the number of illegal Tunisian migrants reaching Italy … was 2,654 in 2019, and 5,200 in 2018.
