Tunisia

'Strengthening African and Middle Eastern Diaspora Policy through South-South Exchange' (AMEDIP) is a project of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), developed and implemented within the framework of the Dialogue on Mediterranean Transit Migration (MTM). More specifically, AMEDIP builds directly upon the previous MTM initiative 'Linking Emigrant Communities for More Development - Inventory of Institutional Capacities and Practices', implemented by ICMPD and IOM in the period 2009 - 2010.

Remittances from migrants are a major source of financing for the economies of developing countries and of the recipient populations. They are of great benefit to large segments of the population which, without these resources, would live in conditions of abject poverty. Consequently, remittance flows tend to remain stable even when the migrants’ countries of residence are beset by economic and financial crisis. They seem to be less volatile than official development assistance and foreign direct investment.

Three years after the beginning of the „Arab Spring“, transformation processes are still under way in Northern African states. High unemployment rates prevail and especially young and highly qualified Tunisians suffer from a lack of professional perspectives.

The MTM Interactive Map on Migration (i-Map) is an online interactive platform in support of the Mediterranean Migration Dialogue.

The country profiles provide factual, non-analytical information and a series of graphs illustrating the main datasets relevant to Migration and Development in the country.

The profiles give access to a plethora of information sources through hyperlinks and they cover the following thematic areas:

CARIM – Migration Profile

• The Demographic-Economic Framework of Migration
• The Legal Framework of Migration
• The Socio-Political Framework of Migration

Report written by: Anna Di Bartolomeo, Tamirace Fakhoury and Delphine Perrin on the basis of CARIM database and publications.

Tunisia has concluded an Association Agreement with the European Union that provides for social security protection to their citizens lawfully resident in EU Member States on an equal basis with nationals.

Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen signed an agreement to start electronic money transfers using technology that has been developed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the agreement will now allow the eight countries to exchange money orders on a multilateral basis. This is particularly valuable in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, where more than 80% of the population are foreigners, and millions of dollars are sent to home countries through remittances. 

This project is designed to strengthen national institutional capacities to govern labour migration and to reinforce male and female migrant worker protection. The project:

i) provides national stakeholders with knowledge, capacities and practical tools to elaborate and implement coherent rights-based, gender-sensitive labour migration policies through consultation with social partners and relevant civil society organizations;