Care Taker Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, says young migrants must have a new mindset about migration.

Cecelia Abena Dapaah said they must understand the dangers associated with irregular migration and the use of unapproved routes to travel.

Madam Dapaah was speaking at the 2021 Gender Conference organised by the GIZ Global Programmes Migration for Development and Migration and Diaspora in Ghana.

The conference was on the theme, “Gendered Dynamics of Return and Reintegration Towards Sustainable Development.”

She said young migrants especially girls, migrate particularly to the Gulf State in search of greener pastures and they end up being abused, trafficked and exploited in various ways.

She said migration played a vital role in the society and had both positive and negative impacts on individuals and the nation as a whole.

Madam Dapaah said, “We cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 10.7 which talks about facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people if this continues.”

The Care Taker Minister said the Ministry provided assistance to some returned migrants trafficked and abused by providing shelter, skills training and comprehensive trauma-informed care.

“Victims that are admitted at the shelter after receiving such comprehensive care end up being able to contribute their quota to the society with the various requisite skills they have acquired,” she added

She said as a country “We must avoid discrimination and the stigmatization associated with some, who return home when things do not go well.”

Madam Regina Bauerochse Barbosa, Country Director for GIZ, Ghana said returning migrants and those considering becoming irregular migrants could benefit from numerous programmes available to build capacity and make them job-ready or start their own business and explore the opportunities Ghana offers.

She said GIZ Ghana, together with its partners, believed that there were numerous potential and actual contributions from returning migrants that could be harnessed for Ghana’s development agenda.

She called on stakeholders involved and especially the Government, that “we must create an enabling environment that provides returning migrants or potential returnees, a sense of safety and security of a better future in Ghana.”

The Country Director said in all this, it was only then that returning migrants could comfortably re-integrate and begin to see and utilize the several opportunities waiting to be tapped, contributing meaningfully to Ghana’s development agenda.

“We continue supporting the reintegration of returning migrants into the Ghanaian society through various support packages, implemented by and at the Ghanaian German Centre,” she added.