By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
There are about one million Ghanaians living in the diaspora, with more than half of the number in other African countries.
These data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an agency of the United Nations, are contrary to the popular view that Europe and North America are the most preferred and final destinations of Ghanaian migrants.
This came to light at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region during a training workshop on migration for selected journalists and other media practitioners.
Forty journalists and other media practitioners selected from the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West Regions participated in the three-day Migration Reporting training at Ejisu.
They were equipped with professional skills and competencies to report ethically, accurately, and with human-centered techniques on migration.
They were also taken through topics such as migration terminologies, stereotyping, various forms of migration including internally displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers, as well as factors driving migration, with the aim of empowering the participants to, in turn, train other media practitioners in the subject.
It came to light that the number of migrants globally rose from 275 million in 2020 to 304 million by the end of last year.
Among these migrants are about one million Ghanaians living in different countries around the world, with the majority of them living in other African countries—contrary to claims that Europe and America are the most preferred destinations.
Ghana is also hosting many refugees from other nations, in addition to some citizens who have been displaced internally due to various factors.
A facilitator, Cyril Lamptey, who is also the Data, Monitoring, and Evaluation Officer at the Ghana office of the IOM, said it is erroneous to describe a migrant who did not go through approved processes as an “illegal migrant.”
Instead, such people are “irregular migrants,” insisting that “there are no illegal human beings in the world.”
He noted that the IOM is not against migration but supports regular migration to reduce the harsh conditions some migrants experience.
“Government does not have the coffers. They’ll tell you that those in the country have not finished eating, how can we take care of those who are coming in? That’s why IOM supplements some of these reintegration activities for Ghanaian migrants—those who want to voluntarily return. IOM supports their return and also supports their reintegration,” Mr. Lamptey disclosed.
A Media, Information Literacy, and Communication Research Lecturer at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UNiMAC), Dr. Stephen Tindi, identified some factors that influence migration.
He said, “Then we’ve young, agile, and active people. But demographics would not be the only driver. As I’ve said, there’re different factors. There’re also social factors, and then there’re political factors, and there’re environmental factors.”
Dr. Tindi urged journalists to be abreast of the complexities of migration and migration reporting in order not to entrench stereotypes and misconceptions against migrants.
The lecturer stated emphatically that there is no migration crisis. The number of migrants in the world is only a small percent of the global population; hence, there is no cause for alarm.
The Programme Support Officer at the IOM, Ms. Camila Taranta, said the UN agency is concerned about the misconceptions about migration and called on journalists and the media to educate society about issues of migration and to reduce the rate of irregular movement across borders in particular.
The training was organised under the “ATUU—A Ghanaian-European Safe and Prosperous People’s Mobility Project on Migration Governance.”
