Three hundred and forty-six Ghanaians aged between 20 and 40 were deported from Europe within the first three months of this year, according to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). A total of 17,565 people were also evacuated from Libya within the same period as a result of the political crisis in that country. The Head of the Information Bureau at the GIS, Assistant Comptroller of Immigration (ACOl) Mrs. Belinda Anim, announced this at a sensitisation workshop in Accra to educate students of the Kinbu Senior High School (SHS) on the dangers of illegal and irregular migration. The exercise formed part of the GIS’ nationwide sensitisation programme aimed at educating the general public on the dangers of illegal migration and its consequences. Similar fora have been held in Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region and Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region. The Ashaiman event attracted many people from the Muslim community, while some evacuees from Libya were on hand to share their bitter experiences with the gathering. Mrs. Anim said there was pressure on North African countries to clamp down on irregular migration occurring over their territories through increased border controls, tightening of migration laws, re-admitting irregular migrants from Europe and deporting others from their territories. She lamented the increasing number of Ghanaians attempting to flee the poverty and hardship in the country to Europe using unapproved routes. She said irregular migration issues had been put high on the Policy Agenda of the European Union and its member states, and mentioned fatalities on the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, underemployment, poor living conditions and overworking in dirty, dangerous and difficult work sites as some effects of irregular migration. Explaining further, Mrs. Anim said the reason the GIS had targeted SHSs was that many students fell victim to illegal migration and, in the GIS’ registry; they formed the majority of the people often deported. She observed that people who travelled across the Sahara Desert did not tell the real stories whenever they returned home and urged the students not to be swayed by the falsified lifestyles returnees often led. Source: Daily Graphic