Thousands of African Migrants Missing on the High Seas This Year – GIS

More than 1,733 African migrants are missing on the high seas as at September this year, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Mr Charles Bediako, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), said on Monday.

He said in 2017 about 4,092 Ghanaian irregular migrants were repatriated into the country with Brong-Ahafo recording the highest figure of 1,562.

Mr Bediako said this when speaking at the opening session of a two-day media workshop on migration for some selected practitioners at Abesim, near Sunyani.

Attended by about 30 journalists, from the electronic and print media; the effective awareness raising and communication on irregular migration workshop was organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) with support from the European Union (EU).

As part of the EU-IOM joint initiative for migrant protection and reintegration in the country, the workshop is aimed at empowering the participants to report accurately on migration.

IOM is a United Nations (UN) Agency that upholds the human rights dignity and well-being of migrants in addition to advancing understanding of migration issues.

In 2017, Mr Bediako said, 3,283 Ghanaian migrants got missing on the Mediterranean, with 6,101 deaths recorded worldwide.

He said migration or travelling was good, but dangers associated with unsafe or irregular migration was enormous and cautioned the youth against using unapproved routes to travel abroad.

Mrs Florence Kim, a Communication Expert at the IOM, said the issue of irregular migration remains a global challenge, hence the need to train the media to be able to report accurately on the subject.

“We are not here to do propaganda but we are here to give you the requisite tools to enable you cover migration effectively”, she added.

Source: GNA