Due to divergent viewpoints regarding what was in the best interest of the young girl, Tunisia and Italy engaged in a legal dispute regarding Linda, a 4-year-old who arrived on the island of Lampedoza without her family on a boat for illegal immigration while the young woman is still stuck in Italy alone and separated from her family.
While Italy appointed a trustee to represent the girl before the judiciary, they refused to hand over the girl, insisting that she remain on her lands and join her parents. While Tunisia adheres to returning the girl to her country, taking into account her advantage and her presence near her family and family surroundings, Italy refuses to hand over the girl.
To visit the girl today, Thursday, in the centre where she was being placed, the Ministry of Family, Women, and Childhood dispatched a team from the Italian city of Palermo.
The Ministry indicated that the state’s interest in following up the conditions of the child and ensuring its interest, and said that it was a victim of an irregular migration, confirming the completion of the necessary measures to secure its return in safe circumstances and in the earliest time.
The Italian authorities refused to return the children, according to a spokeswoman for the Court of First Instance in Monastir, Farid bin Juha, who was sent by the Tunisian government last week to restore the children.
“Bin Juha stated yesterday, Wednesday, that the child protection representative will attend tomorrow’s, Friday, hearing with the Italian judiciary to present what is reported by the issuance of a ruling from the Tunisian judicial authorities stipulating that the child should be returned because the girl is most interested in being with her family.
He also emphasised the importance of carrying out the Tunisian judiciary’s judgement within the context of Italy’s judicial cooperation, particularly when it pertains to national sovereignty.
The Tunisian judiciary made the decision to stop Linda’s parents from leaving the country, to guarantee the proper operation of the investigation as the only two parties capable of identifying the mastermind behind the illegal immigration scheme, and to ensure the execution of the family judge’s ruling that the child be given to the General Delegate of Childhood and brought back to Tunisian soil.
It is noteworthy that the Linda story, which only reached Italian soil, sparked public debate in Tunisia and caused a rift between those who backed the government’s decision to allow the young woman to return home with the goal of raising her family’s standard of living and giving her access to resources and those who opposed it. The existence of an Italian law that allows family reunification..
On the sole boat, a child is caught in a confusing struggle between Italy and Tunisia.
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