The Minority in Parliament is calling for thorough national security checks on the over 200 Ghanaians who would be brought back from Libya by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), following reports of slave auctions.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, earlier told Parliament that a five man team from Ghana had visited six detention centres in Libya, a move that culminated in the rescue of some 72 Ghanaians from these camps.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0WRuKuK83nt13t7eRmR7hwsKcUdbKOn3″]Accordingly, those rescued will be added to 151 other Ghanaians currently in the custody of the IOM and flown back home.
But Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the security situation in Libya and the recent reports from the Libyan Attorney General on the involvement of some Ghanaians in the war in that country makes it imperative to screen the returnees.
“We want to call on the government to institute a special national security screening for all these Ghanaians returning to Ghana and we are making this call because of very obvious reasons.”
The trend of illegal migration according to some experts, is increasingly becoming a national security concern in Ghana, hence the need for firm acts to address it.
Reports have indicated that, since 2014, more than 400,000 African migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
A recent report by IOM indicated that, about 15,000 deaths had been recorded globally since 2014 as a result of illegal migration.
However in 2016, the number reduced to 5,143, and further decreased to 3,116 in 2017.
Despite these staggering figures, the IOM has indicated that, the actual number of deaths recorded through illegal migration far exceeds reported figures.
A few months ago some 127 Ghanaian detainees were rescued from Libya, following reports that Africans there had been subjected to inhumane treatment after giving away their life’s earnings, to make the torturous journeys through the Sahara, hoping to make it big in Europe.
–
By: Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana