News:
March 4, 2018
Ranking member on Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is calling for a thorough national security screening of 200 Ghanaians who would be brought back from Libya by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), following documentary report shown by CNN of slave auctions.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, the Foreign Affairs Minister briefed Parliament on a five member delegation from Ghana who visited the six detention centers in Libya, a move to rescue some 72 Ghanaians from these camps.
A move the ranking member commends government and the Foreign Affairs Minister.
“We want to call on the government to institute a special national security screening for all these Ghanaians returning to Ghana and we are making this call because of very obvious reasons.”
The trend of illegal migration according to some experts, is increasingly becoming a national security concern in Ghana, hence the need for firm acts to address it.
Reports have indicated that, since 2014, more than 400,000 African migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
A recent report by IOM indicate that, about 15,000 deaths had been recorded globally since 2014 as a result of illegal migration.
However in 2016, the number reduced to 5,143, and further decreased to 3,116 in 2017.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com