“La via del ritorno”. Human rights violations on the migratory route between Tunisia and Italy
Article first published on January 7, 2022
“La via del ritorno” – the way back, an investigation of human rights violations along the migratory route between Tunisia and Italy, by Giovanni Culmone, Youssef Hassan Holgade and Matteo Garavoglia, is now among the finalists of the Roberto Morrione award for investigative journalism in 2021.
Summer 2020. After the arrivals of migrants on the Italian coasts have reached a peak level, the ministers Luigi Di Maio and Luciana Lamorgese fly to Tunisia to meet their counterparts, same as the president of the Republic, Kais Saied.
Subject of negotiations is the migration dossier, and what appears to be an arrangement over 11 million Euros.
The documents revealed in this investigation1 are explicit: funding passed along by UNO, in exchange for the engagement of the Tunisian authorities to assure repatriations.
All based on quick expulsion procedures, that completely ignore the personal backgrounds of the affected people.
Translated from Italian by Angela la Cognata
