TUNIS, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Around 7,988 Tunisian irregular migrants have been able to enter Italian territory in 2017, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) announced Saturday.
The figure from January to November this year sees an increase starting from June, and reached a peak of 17 times more than that of the same period of 2016.
The FTDES also reported that between 1,560 and 2,190 Tunisians were repatriated from Europe throughout 33 weeks of this year, mainly from Italy, France and Germany.
According to FTDES, about 307 non-regulatory migration operations were intercepted by the Tunisian authorities from Jan. 1 to Dec. 12, 2017, including 253 operations during the second half of the year.
Altogether 3,424 irregular migrants were arrested, and 129 organizers of irregular migration were intercepted. Women represent 5 percent of those involved.
About 75 percent of the irregular migrants find it difficult to obtain employment in their country of origin, FTDES said.
