Press review of july 2016 on migration in West Africa
English
Ghana workers and the new Italian ‘slaves’
In the North of the province of Foggia in Puglia, thousands of African workers come every summer to harvest Italy’s ‘red gold’, the tomato. The majority are employed on day rates, recruited by gang-masters, and without a contract. But the poor living conditions that these workers experience, as well as the harshness of their work, are nothing new. They in fact represent a continuation of the Italian day-labour of the past many centuries. Until the mid-1960s, gang-masters hired Italian day-labourers to do the same work, and they too worked all day for poor pay and minimal social respect. From the 1970s onwards, then, migration has re-shaped the agricultural landscape to the extent that the workers have changed, but the working conditions remain very similar. (Read more)
US to cut bilateral support to Ghana if human trafficking is not tackled
Ghana risks losing bilateral support from the United States of America (USA) if the problem of human trafficking is not addressed. “As the US Ambassador to Ghana, I certainly do not want to see our assistance to millions of Ghanaians disrupted. I do not want to see our military cooperation and elections support go away. I do not want to see Ghana lose the second Millennium Challenge Compact, just as we are poised to help overcome the electricity shortage that is crippling economic growth.” said The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert P. Jackson, at the launch of the United Nations Day Against Human Trafficking in Accra . (Read more)
Nigeria: Federal Government partners Nigerians in Diaspora on aid for IDPs
Briefing newsmen on the forth coming 2016 Diaspora Day conference, the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Government of the Federation (SGF) Olakunle Bamgboshe, said the waivers would be granted to those who are importing medications, medical equipments amongst others for the purpose of assisting internally displaced Nigerians. (Read more )
Nigeria advocates new strategy to curb irregular migration
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Muhammad Babandede stated this in Abuja, the country’s capital city when the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Fulrio Rustico visited him. (Read more)
Yellow Fever cases on the rise in West Africa
Urbanization and shortage of vaccines are leading to the largest yellow fever outbreaks in 30 years. (Read more)
What Nigeria loses annually to students’ migration abroad
The President of Nigeria Inshore Offshore Oil and Gas Professionals , Dr. Christopher Imumolen, has said Nigeria loses over $91 billion annually to student migration to Ghana, United Stated and Canada. He stated this after a brief meeting with the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu in Abuja on the plan of the organization to establish an oil and gas university in Nigeria. (Read more)
Ghana Hosts Botswana On Migration Policy Development
A seven-member delegation from Botswana is in Ghana to understudy the processes and development of the country’s National Migration Policy (NMP). The visit was facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) offices in Botswana and Ghana, in coordination with Ghana’s Ministry of the Interior. (Read more)
British High Commission donates Returns Reception Centre to Nigeria Immigration Service
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright was joined by Nigeria’s Minister of Interior Abdulrahman Danbazau to commission a newly constructed immigration Returns Reception Centre at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos built by the UK government for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). (Read more)
Focus on ‘glamorous’ farming to combat migrant flight from Africa: former Nigerian president
The image of African farming as a route only to dead-end poverty must be challenged to stem the exodus of migrants to Europe, a former Nigerian president said. “What does a young man want? He wants the ‘bright lights’. And why can’t he have those bright lights and be a farmer?” Olusegun Obasanjo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We have to make farming attractive. We have to make it glamorous.” (Read more)
Nigeria: UN, NAPTIP, Transport firms partner on Human Trafficking
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), have sought collaboration with transporters to combat human trafficking. The Country Representative of UNODC, Cristina Albertin, who dropped the hint at a workshop in Abuja, stressed the need to engage the transporters as all the victims of human trafficking were aided by them. (Read more)
Nigeria: Deadly nomad-versus-farmer conflict escalates
The pastoral Fulani people – also called Peul, Fulbe, Fula and believed to be the world’s largest semi-nomadic ethnic group – follow their cows today as they have done for centuries across the West African Sahel, from Senegal to central Africa. In the past, farmers welcomed the seasonal migration of the Fulani and their cattle. The cows fertilised the farmers’ fields with dung and the farmers reserved land for the cows to graze. It was somewhat of a mutual relationship, dented every now and then by conflicts, particularly when the cattle would trample the farmers’ crops. But today, the relationship between Fulani cattle-herders and farmers in Nigeria has taken a deadly turn. (Read more)
Brexit threatens remittances to Nigeria from UK
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday said the exit of Britain from the European Union might take a toll on remittances to Nigeria from her citizens leaving in the United Kingdom. Nigerians in the Diaspora sent back home $21bn in 2015, making the country the sixth largest receiver of remittances in the world, according to a report by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development with support from the World Bank. Brexit, according to the LCCI in an emailed comment, has a number of immediate and remote implications for the Nigerian economy. (Read more)
Guinea – Bissau confirms three cases of zika virus: West African Countries need to be on alert
Guinea-Bissau has confirmed its first three cases of the Zika virus in a group of islands off the mainland, sparking fears that the nation could become a gateway for the virus into the rest of West Africa. “The Health Minister has informed (the government) of three confirmed cases of Zika virus contamination located in the Bijagos Archipelago,” read a government statement sent to reporters. (Read more)
Ghana is giving little attention to migration and poverty
Key research findings of Migration to Cities Studies revealed that though, Ghana’s population has become increasingly urbanised, yet there is little attention given to the relationship between migration and poverty. The research conducted by Migrating Out of Poverty (MOOP) Consortium at the University of Ghana, Legon, indicated that, earlier studies on migration and poverty outcomes did not examine how rural-urban migrants and their households in Ghana would have fared had migration not occurred. (Read more)
Domestic Workers seek C 189 in handling labour migration
Domestic workers in Ghana have commemorated the 5th International Domestic Workers Day 2016 with a pledge to continually call on government to ratify ILO Convention 189 so that issues regarding migrant domestic workers can be tackled holistically. (Read more)
Français
Côte d’ivoire – Togo: Hors des griffes des trafiquants
Cinq mineurs togolais interceptés à la frontière entre le Ghana et la Côte d’Ivoire ont pu regagner Lomé et retrouver leur famille. Agés de 6 à16 ans, ces enfants devaient être convoyés sur Abidjan pour des travaux domestiques, indique le site de la présidence ivoirienne. Ce rapatriement a été rendu possible grâce à l’intervention personnelle de Dominique Ouattara, la première dame ivoirienne et à l’assistance des autorités consulaires togolaises à Abidjan. (Lire l’article)
Publication du profil migratoire 2015 du Togo
La branche togolaise de l’Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations (OIM) a publié mardi à Lomé le profil migratoire du Togo pour le compte de l’année 2015. (Lire l’article)
Nations Unies : La Guinée au workshop sur les questions de migration, à New York
Le siège des Nations Unies à New York a servi de cadre, le mardi 19 juillet 2016, à un atelier thématique sur «la migration pour la paix, la stabilité et la croissance». C’est dans la perspective du 9ème Forum Mondial pour la Migration et le Développement (FMMD) prévu en décembre prochain à Dhaka, au Bangladesh, que cet atelier thématique a été organisé à New York. Les débats ont mis l’accent sur la problématique de la gouvernance de la migration dans le monde. Les résultats de cette rencontre new yorkaise alimenteront les préparatifs des assises de Dhaka. (Lire l’article)
L’Union européenne veut renforcer les capacités militaires des pays africains pour freiner les migrations
Le sujet ne fait pas consensus à Bruxelles. Pour prévenir les conflits en Afrique et les migrations qui en découlent, la Commission européenne souhaite financer le renforcement des capacités militaires de certains pays africains. (Lire l’article)
Burkina Diaspora: Le Faso ouvre une fenêtre pour ses fils vivant à l’extérieur
Le gouvernement burkinabè a procédé le 22 juillet 2016 au lancement d’un site Internet dédié aux Burkinabè vivant à l’extérieur. Ce lancement s’est fait concomitamment avec la divulgation du profil migratoire du Burkina. Un ensemble d’initiatives qui a pour but de renforcer les échanges entre les fils du Burkina, qu’ils se trouvent dans et hors des frontières de la patrie. (Lire l’article)
« 75 % des jeunes de 18 à 35 ans veulent quitter le Sénégal » Pr Pape Demba Fall
Depuis plus de 20 ans, le Pr Pape Demba Fall, chef du Département de Sciences humaines de l’Ifan, s’intéresse sur le fait migratoire. Ses nombreuses publications sur la question font autorité. Dans un entretien accordé au journal le Soleil, il fait une analyse profonde du phénomène de l’immigration clandestine. (Lire l’article)
Le Togo organise une semaine de la diaspora à Lomé
Le Forum socio-économique de la diaspora (FOSED) organise du 27 au 31 juillet à Lomé une semaine de la diaspora dénommée “Kpekpe Togo 2016”, initiée par des Togolais de l’étranger désireux d’apporter leur contribution à l’émergence socio-économique du pays. Le thème retenu est “la diaspora togolaise, levier d’un Togo émergent” et vise à faire redécouvrir le Togo ainsi que les potentialités de ses fils de l’Etranger. (Lire l’article)
Português
Cardeal Furtado: podreza e migraçãoes entre os desafios à familia
Durante a XVII Assembleia Plenária do SECAM (Simpósio das Conferências Episcopais de África e Madagáscar) que decorre em Luanda, Angola, o Card. Arlindo Gomes Furtado, de Cabo Verde, e em representação da Conferência regional dos bispos de Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Mauritânia e Senegal, falou dos principais desafios da família, hoje, em África e com maior realce para a forma como a Igreja em Cabo Verde e na região está a enfrentar tais desafios. (Leia mais)