The Dignity of a Migrant does not Expire with their Death: Call for a Decent Burial of the Victims of the Maritime Tragedy

With great sorrow, The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights FTDES has received the news of the maritime tragedy that took place on the coasts of Kerkennah after the floating of the migrants’ bodies on the shore. This humanitarian tragedy is an inevitable consequence of the constrained and inhumane migratory policies of the European Union that fall under its security approach towards migration matters rather than dealing with migratory flows humanely, particularly in light of the health, security, and political circumstances in Libya, by promoting and encouraging saving and protecting human lives. Instead, the EU chooses a border closure policy and proves its readiness to do whatever it takes to prevent migrants from reaching its borders. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights FTDES expresses its solidarity with the families of the victims and survivors of this recurring human tragedy in the Mediterranean and calls the Tunisian authorities and all the concerned bodies (municipalities, organizations…) to deal with the victims’ corpses in a manner that preserves human dignity and burry them in proper and appropriate conditions and areas.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights is aware of the suffering of the families of the missing of all nationalities to know the fate of their missing family members and renews its call to collect and manage information about deceased migrants, as well as to register them in central databases that can be accessed by all related institutions, and enable their families to know about their fate.

Peace be upon the souls of the victims,

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights