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General News of Sunday, August 4, 2019
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2019-08-04
Photo file
The Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) states that citizens of all member states who travel to other countries can not be qualified as foreigners.
Instead of being qualified abroad, the revised protocol described all migrants from one of the 16 Member States as citizens of the Community, the aim being to give citizens a sense of to belong to any member country in which they migrate.
Dr. Tony Luka Elumelu, Senior Program Officer of the ECOWAS Free Movement Directorate for the Management of Migration and Migration of ECOWAS, drew the attention of the officials of the ECOWAS Service. Ghana Immigration (GIS) declaring that "migrants from ECOWAS are not foreigners, but citizens of the community. ".
He was speaking at an interactive session with GIS as part of an advocacy and awareness campaign on free movement and migration conducted by ECOWAS and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
He urged security officials to keep abad of the ECOWAS Commission's new protocol and be more friendly in their operations, especially in the communities they operate, in order to motivate citizens to carry out their mandate. .
Mr. Elumelu stated that it was important for all security officers to know that ECOWAS identity cards were now permitted as travel documents in the Community, as adopted. by the Commission.
He commended the government of Ghana for being the third out of four countries in the Community to deploy the ECOWAS identity cards, adding that, until now, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Ghana and Benin were the countries that had deployed identity cards.
For his part, Mr. Laud Afriffa, Assistant Comptroller General in charge of GIS Command and Operations, congratulated the ECOWAS Commission and IOM for continuing the advocacy and the campaign to badist the main stakeholders to understand the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons and Goods. .
He said it was important for stakeholders to understand the content of the protocol and use it in their day-to-day operations, ensuring its full and effective implementation in order to facilitate economic operations within from the community.
Mr Afriffa stated that the advocacy was based on effective border management, especially by security guards, and on how they manage the crossings from one Member State to the other without hindrance, but by serving as a control.
He said that border management in today's world has changed with the adoption of new methods with the introduction of the Security Governance Initiative by the government.
He said it was important for security agencies to work together to effectively manage borders.
He said it was a major responsibility for security agencies to strike a balance between ensuring security and ensuring that those who have to carry goods can move without hindrance but quickly.
The Deputy Comptroller General urged the citizens of the Community to recognize that freedom of movement does not mean that freedom of movement is regulated and that, therefore, those who cross the border have to make sure to travel with appropriate travel, as indicated in the ECOWAS protocol.
He urged all citizens of the community to respect the rules governing each member country in which they were, to ensure that peace and security are not compromised.
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