International conference about Mediterranean migration held in Tunis

An international conference opened in Tunis on Friday to discuss strategies for reducing the number of victims of the Mediterranean migration route to Europe, Anadolu has reported.

The international Alarm-Phone-Initiative and Germany’s Rosa Luxemburg Foundation organised the conference, which was attended by several other international and Tunisian NGOs, including Physicians Sans Frontiers.

According to Muneeb Bakkary of Alarm-Phone-Initiative, the agenda included discussions about the status of the migrants, EU policies on refugees and the partnership deals between the EU and the Mediterranean countries. More than 5,500 migrants died crossing the Mediterranean in 2016 and the number this year to date is 2,200.

“One of the main aims of the conference,” explained May Shukri of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, “is to lobby the people interested in the migration issue, including activists, academics, NGOs and researchers, in order to bring all their efforts together.” She noted that the spread of extremist right-wing groups in Europe undermines the integration of refugees across the continent.