‘Ghana making in-roads in tackling human trafficking’
Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister for the Interior has said Ghana has made a lot of in-roads in the prosecution of perpetrators of human trafficking.
He said the success of the prosecution was actualised based on the national migration policy, which was launched in April, 2016, to help manage Ghana’s internal and international in-flows of migrants in the context of national development.
Mr Dery made the revelation on the floor of Parliament when responding to a question posed by James Agalga, Member of Parliament for Builsa-North and Ranking Member of Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior.
The minister said as a results of Ghana’s intervention in human-trafficking cases, the country’s ratings had been boosted globally to the extent that Ghana has been upgraded in United States, State Department Traffick-in-Person (TIP) report in 2018, which elevated Ghana from Tier 2 watch list to the level of Tier 2 Ranking.
The TIP is an annual report issued by the US State Department to monitor and combat human trafficking with rankings based on perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking by countries in the world.
Mr Dery said Ghana, since 2017 was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List on the TIP for three consecutive years until the present government began implementing a policy of prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators.
He said to ensure the success of the national migration policy, the ministry has initiated a road map to establish a Ghana National Commission on Migration, adding that GH₵620,000 has been factored into the 2020 budget estimate.
Mr Dery said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also indicated its willingness to support the ministry with US$40,000 towards the establishment of the Migration Commission.
He said the ministry has received proposals on nominees from relevant stakeholders to be part of such a commission.
Mr Dery said the ministry has received proposals from the ministries, department and agencies on nominees, and currently awaiting support from the centre for migration studies, and GH¢10 million to build the capacity of the proposed nominees.
He indicated that the implementation of the policy required multi-sectoral participation, adding that stakeholder institutions such as Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, have been all brought on board.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI