MINISTRIES RECRUIT GHANAIANS FOR ITALY (PAGE 32)

A Comprehensive mechanism is being developed by the Ministries of the Interior and of Employment and Social Welfare, as well as by the Labour Department for the identification, registration and selection of Ghanaian workers for job opportunities in Italy.
In that connection, a training programme put together by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is scheduled to be organised for officials of the two ministries and the department between May and September, 2009.
The training programme is part of a labour migration project which seeks to ensure that labour migrants travel through legal avenues.
The Head of the Technical Co-operation Department and International Programme Manager of the IOM, Mr Jo Rispoli, announced these in Techiman during the launch of information campaign activities to prevent irregular migration.
Mr Rispoli observed that the initiative also demonstrated that there were legal channels by which people could migrate in a safe and humane manner.
He said other components of the migration project involved the development of the capacity of Libya as a receiving country, so that it could develop labour immigration management.
A three-day workshop is also expected to be organised for delegates from Libya and other African countries as well as for the European Union (EU) to encourage dialogue and build a common approach to labour migration in Africa.
Mr Rospoli stated that the project expected to achieve, among others, enhancement of national capacities for labour migration management in West Africa and Libya by January 2010.
The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Dr Kwasi Apea-Kubi, said about 60 per cent of Ghanaians deported from Europe are indigenes of the Brong Ahafo Region.
He recalled the suffering and dangers associated with irregular migration and admonished the youth against the practice.
Touching on the labour migration project, Dr Apea-Kubi expressed the hope that the project would be guided by the Palermo Protocol of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Transitional Organised Crime.
The Deputy Minister of the Interior said the protocol was aimed at the protection of the rights of migrants and the reduction of the power and influence of organised criminal groups who abused migrants.
The Chairman of the Nkoranza Libya Returnees Association, Mr Daniel Asante, thanked the Government of Ghana, the IOM, the European Commission and the Government of Italy for their efforts at discouraging irregular migration.