A four-year-old girl who was separated from her parents while trying to board a ship from Tunisia to Italy has been forced to cross the Mediterranean without them.
Called Linda by Italian authorities, she landed on the island of Lampedusa on October 17 after 26 hours at sea on a boat carrying 70 other immigrants from Tunisia, reports The Guardian.
Tunisian authorities are trying to repatriate her, while her parents have been issued a travel ban and are accused of abandoning a minor.
“She constantly asks for news from her parents”
“Linda is fine and she is in a children’s center in Palermo,” said Majdi Karbai, one of three parliamentarians representing Tunisians living in Italy, saying the girl suffered an “emotional shock”.
“She constantly asks for news of her parents and when she can see them again,” she adds in statements reported by The Guardian.
“Her parents are in Tunisia and the Tunisian authorities have imposed a travel ban on them. They would prefer to repatriate Linda, but the procedures are not so easy because the young woman is under the legal protection of a local guardian”, completes the deputy. .
Scarcity, political crisis, health
The international NGO Save the Children supported Linda. “She plays with other children and a psychological support team helps her release fears and pressures,” said Giovanna De Benedetto, spokeswoman for Save the Children.
Linda and her family are from Sayada, in the Sahel region, 20 km south of Sousse. Due to the current political crisis and food shortages, her father, a food seller, was unable to earn a living and decided to leave Tunisia with his family, says MP Majdi Karbai, in contact with a relative.
Linda’s seven-year-old sister is said to be suffering from heart disease and needs constant medical attention. Her parents hope that in Europe the child can receive the necessary care.
New far-right government
The Tunisian Ministry of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly said in a statement that talks were being held with the Tunisian consular services in Palermo to repatriate the girl, and that a Tunisian diplomatic delegation should meet with the judge of the juvenile court of Palermo, who has blocked repatriation for the time being.
The newly elected government in Italy, led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist origins, has promised to introduce tough measures to block the arrival of asylum seekers from North Africa. .
Source: BFM TV
