Danish Envoys, officials of GIS and ICMPD Director in a group photograph after the event
THE GHANA Immigration Service (GIS), in partnership with International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), has received funding from the Government of Denmark to fight irregular migration.
This came up during the launch of an irregular migration management project at the GIS headquarters last Wednesday.
Themed: “Strengthening Border and Migration Management in Ghana (SMMIG),” the €1.3 million fund will assist GIS in the implementation of its 2018-2020 strategic plans.
The Ghana-Danish project will empower the GIS to tackle the menace of irregular migration, strengthen the capacity of the GIS to detect forged and falsified travel documents, as well as provide training in profiling impostor detection and carry out risk analysis.
At the project launch, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Tove Degnbol, said the International Centre for Migration Management Development ICMPD would work with government to promote innovative, comprehensive and sustainable migration policies tailored to meet the specific needs of partnering countries.
She noted that migration has become one of the most important political issues in public debates with irregular migration and cross-border crimes taking centre stage.
She pointed out that “the project will enhance the effectiveness of documents inspection through provision of equipment at major entry points at the DFEC laboratory and for training purposes.
“It will contribute to strengthening cooperation and information exchange between the respective units of GIS that are involved in curbing irregular migration,” she added.
She however indicated that strengthening intra-agency and regional cooperation, SMMIG will improve the quality and quantity of information exchange on new methods of forgeries and up-to-date risk related to document security.
The Director for Migration Dialogue and Cooperation of ICMPD, Martijn Pluim, said the irregular migrants make up between 10 and 20 per cent of all migrants.
He emphasised the need for European Union (EU) to reach out to African leaders to enhance dialogue and cooperation on migration and the EU’s Trust Fund for Africa as was established in Malta in 2015 has resulted in massive reduction of the irregular border-crossing into Europe.
The GIS management has embraced the project and expressed optimism about its success, especially in the area of skills development of personnel.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the GIS, the SMMIG project and the Embassy of Denmark, setting out the responsibilities of each party in the project.
BY Paul Nyojah Dalafu