Interior Ministry launches National Migration Policy
A National Migration Policy (NMP) to provide a comprehensive framework to manage Ghana’s migration flows for sustainable national development has been launched by the Ministry of the Interior.
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The goal of the policy is to promote the benefits and minimise the cost of internal and international migration through legal means by respecting the rights and security of migrants for the socio-economic development of the country.
The policy, developed by the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee on Migration, with support from its development partners, is guided by a host of principles, which include the protection of migrant rights.
Mandate
Launching the policy in Accra yesterday, President John Dramani Mahama said a National Commission on Migration, a body specifically mandated to manage migration and its related issues, would be established to provide interventions in line with the NMP.
In a speech read on his behalf, the President said migration had assumed importance in the global agenda, as its potential for economic and social development was increasingly being acknowledged.
He said from a period when migration was perceived as mainly negative, it was now widely recognised as key to development and poverty reduction.
Irregular migration
He said it was common knowledge that irregular migration had become an issue most countries were grappling with and posed multiple challenges to countries of origin, transit and destination, as well as the migrants themselves.
He said those movements were usually driven by economic, political, social and environmental factors and the need to search for alternative sources of livelihood by the youth through irregular means by engaging in menial jobs in North Africa and Europe.
He indicated that incorprating migration into development would be adequately achieved if there was a policy framework underlining the processes.
President Mahama reiterated the government’s commitment to the implementation of the policy and called on all stakeholders to provide support to ensure its successful implementation.
Commitment
The European Union Ambassador to Ghana, Mr William Hanna, expressed the commitment of member countries to help address the challenges of migration.
The Italian Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Laura Carpini, said the adoption of a migration policy for Ghana was timely, since issues on migration had become a global agenda.
She said it was on record that 3,772 migrants and refugees died trying to reach Europe and that accounted for 70 per cent migrant deaths worldwide in 2015.
The Minister of the Interior, Mr Prosper Bani, expressed his appreciation to the ministerial committee and the development partners for drafting the policy which, he said, represented a bold attempt to provide a comprehensive framework.