"Do not treat Ghanaian migrants as criminals" – Committee on Foreign Affairs

General News on Thursday, February 7, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-02-07

Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee has urged member countries of the European Union (EU) not to consider Ghanaian migrants as criminals.

He said the country's migrants were economic migrants who wanted decent work to raise money to support their families in their home country.

Mr. Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee, and Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Lead Member of the Committee, made this call separately at a meeting with a delegation of 20 members of the Working Group on Africa from the European Union (EU) Council in Accra last Monday.

The EU delegation, led by the head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, Ambbadador Diana Acconcia, invited the committee to consider ways to strengthen EU-Ghana relations.

The migration of Africans to Europe, some by dangerous means, has become a hot topic in Europe recently, with some European political leaders refusing to accept migrants in their respective countries.

Low risk

Mr. Sarpong said that Ghanaian migrants had no criminal intent and that their concern was to seek greener pastures in Europe.

Mr Ablakwa added that migrants are not dangerous people who could harm their guests.

He said tagging migrants would put their lives at risk, and called for dialogue around the problem.

Ghana-EU relations

Acting on EU-Ghana relations, Mr Sarpong said that, as part of the Cotonou Agreement between Africa and the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), Ghana and the United States, The EU shared a broad joint agenda to promote regional economic integration, peace and security, democracy, good governance and law.

They also defend the rule of law and human rights and address other global challenges such as migration, human trafficking and climate change.

Mr Sarpong also congratulated the EU for providing Ghana with development aid over the years, including its annual budget support.

"The EU remains Ghana's main development partner and this partnership badistance has had a positive impact on the lives of Ghanaians.

"In the last ten years alone, the EU has provided Ghana with more than 400 million euros in development badistance in areas such as institutional development and accountability, capacity building. , education and vocational training, the creation of sustainable jobs, decentralization and the fight against corruption, "he said.

Delegation of the EU

In her remarks, Ambbadador Acconcia affirmed the EU's commitment in the implementation of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Cotonou Agreement .

She said that the EU and Ghana are progressing in the field of migration by moving from a problem to a common agenda.

Ms Acconcia said that it was possible to develop a transactional plan on migration, which would focus on job creation and border controls.

Contributing, a permanent representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the EU, Mr. Johannes Runoff, called for a collaborative effort to tackle the root causes of migration.