Youth urged to deter from irregular migration
Research and Counselling Foundation for African Migrant (RECFAM), an NGO, has begun a nationwide education campaign to combat irregular migration and human trafficking to and from the country.
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It is also assisting voluntary returnees and vulnerable children towards socio-economic development of the country for the benefit of all.
The nationwide campaign was launched at Mamobi Kawokudi in Accra on August 30, 2015. It called on the youth to be mindful of irregular migration and human traffickers who claimed they could help them travel abroad to live a better life but end up squandering their money and putting them at all kinds of risks or even worse than before.
The programme is part of the organisation’s core mandate to promote safe migration and protect vulnerable children and steer them towards development.
The Executive Director of RECFAM, Mr MBINGLO Nsodu Alfred, said irregular migration exposed migrants to all kinds of risks including exploitation, trafficking and even death.
According to Mr MBINGLO, no country is unaffected either positively or negatively by migration.
He said if it was conducted regularly and well managed by the relevant authorities, it could serve as a tool for development and poverty reduction; a key human response to environmental, social, political and economic needs.
He further stressed that migrants should desist from any advertisement on job opportunities in any part of the western world because most of those advertising were traffickers and smugglers.
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He said the fact that many who travelled using such channels ended up in the worst form of exploitations should serve as a warning.
Mr MBINGLO also called on all stakeholders to support the sensitisation programme to combat irregular migration and human trafficking, as irregular migrants including Ghanaians were perishing on the sea and desert or ended up as victims of trafficking.
According to International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the death toll of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea had skyrocketed by August this year with more than 2,000 dead when they were trying to reach Europe.
Patrick M. Osman, who was once an irregular migrant but now a regular migrant shared his story with the public after a documentary show on Ghanaians abroad and those travelling through the desert to Europe was shown.
He indicated that he had been through both processes and would not advise anyone to travel irregularly because it was a terrible experience.
He further added that travelling illegally was more costly than going through the right process.
There was a film show to educate the youth on the dangers of using the Sahara Desert and other illegal means to travel to Libya as well as irregular migrants in Europe.
Mr Osman also called on all who came across any vulnerable child or family in the country especially foreigners that needed assistance to contact RECFAM for reintegration in their country of origin.
“RECFAM is willing to assist vulnerable children and provide the right information to migrants to become agents of change, support voluntary returnees and guide people through the right way to acquire the necessary document to travel regularly”.
The youth of ‘Kawokudi’ were so impressed and asked few questions on acquiring a passport and visa regularly to travel. Some indicated that the unemployment rate in Ghana had been the main factor of irregular migration; and others emphasised on the fact that a lot of ‘connection men’ had squandered their money but they have still not got the chance to travel.