Tunisia mulls new cemeteries as hundreds of dead refugees wash up on coast

Authorities in Tunisia are mooting about constructing additional cemeteries since there isn't enough room for all of the refugees who wash up on the country's coasts every day to be buried.

In recent years, Tunisia has become an important transit country for migrants and refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. Many migrants and refugees arrive at the shores of Tunisia after fleeing conflict, persecution, and economic hardship in their home countries.

According to the UN, the first three months of 2023 saw an increase in the number of boats carrying asylum seekers capsize at sea, making it the deadliest period for those trying to cross the central Mediterranean since 2017.

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On Tunisian beaches, bodies, including those of children and pregnant women, frequently wash up where they are collected and buried.

The arrival of migrants and refugees at the Tunisian shores has created significant challenges for the country, including providing humanitarian assistance and ensuring their safe and dignified treatment.

The Tunisian government and civil society organizations have worked to provide assistance to migrants and refugees, including providing food, water, and medical care.

But over 800 dead were found in the Sfax region alone last year, and more than 300 have been discovered since the beginning of 2023, according to the Tunisian Red Crescent.

Funerals are held practically daily. There is a shortage of room in many municipal cemeteries to bury refugees, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa.

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“Due to the influx of a large number of victims, more than 170 bodies have exceeded the capacity to accommodate the forensic medicine department of Habib Bourghiba university hospital,” said a statement from the Sfax governorate,.

The governorate held an emergency meeting with health authorities to find “radical solutions” to the problem.These include “quickly allocating a cemetery for immigrants and the provision of refrigerated trucks to transport often decomposing bodies”.

With a huge increase of refugee boats seeking to reach the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, one of Europe's southernmost possessions, in the previous month, more over 35,000 people, nearly four times as many as in 2022, have reached the Italian shoreline.

The situation is also complicated by the fact that many migrants and refugees are stranded in Tunisia, unable to continue their journey to Europe due to border closures and restrictions imposed by European countries. This has led to overcrowding and a growing sense of desperation among those stranded in Tunisia.

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Nearly 20,000 migrants have left Tunisia this year, and roughly 15,500 migrants have left Libya, according to data from the UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees. More departures, nevertheless, also imply more fatalities, and the Maltese and Italian authorities are blamed for holding up the rescue operation.

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