Ghana: Italian volunteers with EU to counter illegal immigration

Accra - Working together to combat illegal immigration and to raise awareness among young people of the dangers of the travel involved and of human trafficking. This was one of the topics discussed in Accra, Ghana, at a round table organised by Vis (Volontari Italiani per lo Sviluppo, Italian Volunteers for Global Development), with the Salesians of Don Bosco, the platform Stop Tratta, the European Union, the Italian Embassy and the Immigration Service of Ghana. Several representatives from the leadership of the local regions that the greatest number of irregular migrants originates from also took part. This included the Queen of Berekun, which is in the region of Brong Ahafo in the Northeast of the country, and the Chief of part of the Lake Volta region. "Working with local leaders allows our message to reach the hearts of families and to be listened to", explained Giampaolo Gullotta, Vis Regional Manager for West Africa, who has been involved in the project since it started in 2015, putting in place "operations to prevent and combat human trafficking and illegal immigration" as part of a plan jointly implemented by Vis and the Salesians of Don Bosco. Gullotta continued: "In Ghana we have created a network of people working to abate the impact of illegal immigration and to put in place alternative development projects based on sustainable agriculture". 
Italy's ambassador in Ghana, Giovanni Favilli, present at the round table, underlined Italy's role in the effort to reduce the damage caused by illegal immigration, recalling how "over the years we have saved hundreds of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean, we have seen detention centres in Libya, we have listened to survivors stories of the violence and abuse suffered during their journeys". The Italian diplomat then made a request of his audience, saying he "asked Vis and other partners to focus on projects that will raise awareness of the risks of making the journey, to make people think about whether it is really worth it".
Ambassador Favilli then concluded that "it is everyones responsibility to take steps to create a vibrant private sector that can generate jobs, offer investors a climate of security and legality, fight corruption, and create job opportunities, because at the end of the day the principal cause of migration is tied to poverty and a lack of concrete opportunities in life". The point of view of the European Unions Ghana delegation, given at the round table by Maria Luisa Troncoso, was that of "pushing the necessity of collaboration with local authorities to find mechanisms for human mobility that can be enacted through agreements that will give impetus to legal mobility, because mobility can benefit both Africa and Europe, but only if it is done legally".