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| Mr. Kojo Wilmot, National Project Officer |
Updated statistics from his outfit shows that there has been an increase in the deaths of migrants recorded on the Mediterranean Sea since 2014. For instance, from 1st January, 2015 to 31st December, 2015, 1,007,494 migrants entered Europe through the Mediterranean routes and 3,777 migrants died during the journey. From 1st January, 2016 to 19 December, 2016, the number of migrants entering Europe reduced drastically to 358,156 but this did not factor into the fatalities as a whopping 4,901 deaths were recorded.
The Mission Migrants Project and the Global Migration Data Analyses Centre has compiled the number of migrants’ deaths worldwide. In 2014 5,267 deaths were recorded, rising to 5,740 deaths in 2015, and 7,259 deaths in 2016 with deaths from the Mediterranean routes (Eastern, Central and Western) accounting for about 60% of the recorded deaths.
He noted that these recent developments were shocking and entreated the world bodies especially the United Nations to be up and doing. Many of such fatalities occur to migrants from the Sub-Saharan countries such Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and many others who use the Nigerien-Libyan routes to Italy through the Islands of Lampedusa and Sicily or to the east through Mauritania, Morocco through to the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta then to mainland Spain.
The Central Mediterranean (Libya to Italy) plays a critical role in these fatalities. According to Mr. Wilmot, the current situation in Libya is very favourable for traffickers.
“Libya is in a state of anarchy, things are not well coordinated and that traffickers usually have a free day. However, because Moroccan and Spanish officials are ruthless, many people do not usually use the western Mediterranean route”, he added.
One of the home grown strategies the IOM has put in place to curtail these fatalities is the establishment of migration centres which would give migrants accurate and reliable information on migration.
“IOM through the Ghana Integrated Migration Management Approach (GIMMA) has established a Migration Information Centre in Sunyani (one of the high migrants’ areas in the country). This centre is a one stop shop where potential migrants can go for accurate and reliable information for them to really make an informed decision before they migrate”, Mr. Wilmot stated, adding that a similar centre called the Migration Information Bureau will be opened in Accra within the first quarter of 2017 to serve the same purpose as the Migration Information Centre.
In addition, the centre is also actively engaged in community sensitisation, noting that officials of the centre have visited some communities within the Brong Ahafo region to sensitize the people especially the youth on the dangers of irregular migration and the need to travel safely. Some of the strategies used, included broadcasting documentaries of such journeys and also bringing some returnees to share their own stories. According to him, this project has seen a greater level of response as some people within the area have expressed gaining a better understanding of the dangers of irregular migration and had expressed satisfaction towards the project.
Perhaps, one critical area to this global problem is behavioural change. In addressing this through a scientific method by providing empirical evidence to address this, the centre has “carried out a study where findings of the study will be implemented and would be used for the information campaign activities. You would realise that in as much as we continue to sensitise the people about the dangers of irregular migration, the issue is still prevalent”…We wanted a behavioural change kind of strategy that would help us to make the necessary impact that we expect. IOM through the GIMMA project has been partnering with the Ghana Immigration Service in this regard”, Mr. Wilmot said.
In fighting behavioural change, Project Assistant of GIMMA Victoria Serwaa Kankam said by putting hands on deck to build the economy to get people jobs, not necessarily white collar jobs but something that is sustainable that people can live with, is one way that will help fight behavioural change.
“We cannot do it all alone as IOM, but it’s something that all civil society organisations and every policy maker should be looking at doing. If we can do something about improving the economic challenges that we have as a nation, it is one best way of keeping our human resource that we have and not getting them to move out in that quantum of numbers that we have been experiencing” she noted.
“Migration is incorporated in the SDG’s – the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This is to “facilitate orderly, safe regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well managed migration policies” (IOM).
IOM is an inter-governmental agency that partners governments in dealing with migration issues. This is the reason the Project Assistant of GIMMA Victoria Serwaa Kankam said that by putting hands on deck to build the economy is the right way to go because IOM as an agency cannot do that alone.
Mr. Wilmot noted that the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations has also supervised some decoration of Ghana Private Employment Association (GHAPEA). This association also seeks to enhance the operations of the recruitment agencies (those engaged in foreign placement) so that the unlicensed recruitment agencies are clamped on.
He added that “some countries have signed bilateral labour agreements with Ghana. Jordan is one of the countries. So if there are standing bilateral labour agreements, this would be initiated between countries. (Should) there be abuse of rights, the countries can come in to fight for its nationals to ensure that the rights of their nationals are upheld”, Mr. Wilmot emphasised.
As countries in the sub-Saharan region such as Benin, Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana have elected new governments, it is their responsibility to build a strong and resilient economy to harness the potential of its human resource.
This article was brought to you by the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) and Panos Institute West Africa, two non-profit and nonpartisan organisations in Ghana and Senegal respectively, with support from the European Union.
https://www.modernghana.com/news/745074/iom-raises-concern-over-increasing-deaths-of-irregular-migra.html
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