Madam Simone Giger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ghana, says a global approach based on partnership and cooperation is needed to manage migration effectively.
She said given the complexities and global nature of migration, an efficient collaborative approach was essential in addressing the challenges it presented.
The Swiss Ambassador, speaking at the opening of the 2024 Migration Management Course being hosted by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), said, “Migration cannot be tackled by any country alone.”
The two-weeks course, second in a series, with 28 participants from ECOWAS Member States, is being funded by the Swiss Government and the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).
The Migration Management Course offers a unique platform for participants to enhance their capacities and strengthen their resolve to promote effective practices that are fundamental to managing migration and movement patterns in the sub-region.
Ambassador Giger said it was of utmost importance that different countries partnered at the regional and international levels with a shared commitment and understanding of the issues and challenges of migration while finding effective solutions.
She stated that migration was a diverse and complex phenomenon with many different causes with many different consequences.
“Migration can mean flight and protection from conflict, insecurity, economic hardship or climate change, but it can also mean studies and new work opportunities.
It entails trafficking and smuggling, fraud and crime, human rights abuses and separated families but also family reunions, development, remittances, integration and new beginnings,” she said.
The Swiss Ambassador said governments and societies were constantly asked to respond and keep up to those complex challenges and opportunities that migration implied which differed from one context to the other.
Therefore, she noted, that the Migration Management Course would deliver a comprehensive picture of the migration phenomenon with special focus on the West African region while aiming at discussing regional solutions and encouraging international and regional cooperation.
Switzerland, she said, was committed to supporting the Migration Management Course and expressed optimism that it would constitute real added value for the region and each participating country.
Air Commodore David Akrong, Deputy Commandant, KAIPTC, who spoke on behalf of the Commandant, Major General Richard Addo Gyane, said the root causes of migration were numerous and complex and that trends and patterns in migration in Africa were shaped by factors, including rapid population and labour force growth, unstable politics, escalating ethnic conflicts, economic decline and environmental deterioration.
Those factors, he said, were usually brought about by a mismatch between the rapid population growth and the available resources, low level of requisite technology to exploit the available natural resources and capacity to create employment and jobs at the countries of origin.
Air Cdre Akrong said over the years, the challenges had driven people to move in search of better or alternative opportunities and that for some communities, migration had become a survival strategy.
“Properly managed migration can bring benefits both to migrants and societies,” he noted.
He expressed optimism that the Migration Management Course would equip participants with the knowledge, tools and skills to help reduce the negative effects of migration while maximising the positive aspects.
Mr Chamango Tchagam Blaise Aime, a participant and a Human Rights Advocate from Cameroon, said an issue of grave concern was the armed conflict in the northwest and southwest of Cameroon that had caused many people to move internally and externally.
“Many Cameroonians have moved from the southwest and the northwest regions to other safer regions and out of the country to neighbouring Nigeria, and the situation is worrying. These internally and externally displaced persons are facing serious humanitarian concerns.”
As a human rights defender, Mr Chamango said after the two-week course, he hopes to have a good mastery of the legal and institutional framework governing migration regionally and internationally to help deal with the emerging crisis in Cameroon.
