Migration and Free Movement in Ghana: Implementing the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment
Over the past few years, migration has become a major double-edged global problem, which on the one hand, severely affects or is threatening to strain international relations, human rights‘ norms and economies of nation-states, and, on the other, is causing psycho-cultural destructive effects on peoples and countries. The scale, scope and dimension of the many problems it precipitates leave no country unaffected, whether as exit points or transit routes and as final destinations, though some countries and regions feel the impact more than others. Yet, historically, cross border movement for trade, commerce, the spread of Islam or Christianity, agriculture, pastoral activities and for voluntary settlement have always occurred among people and regions of the world, more specifically in West Africa. But, the intensity and desperation characterising the contemporary form of migration, especially to Europe and America since the 1990s, along with the adverse conditions encountered in the process and the itineraries used are the factors making the current trans-border movement a global issue of serious concern. Observably, particularly in the West African sub-region, the depth of the problem has assumed critical dimensions owing to the high-risk factors and attendant consequences – overt and distinguished – coupled with the often reported human fatality and tragedies characterising West Africa / Europe migration. Other attendant developments of enormous proportions are compounding the basic problems.
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