Release| Migration Activist Decries the Inhumane Treatment of Migrants, Reminds African Leaders to Emulate Ghana's President

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Yahya Sonko



   OUR AFRICAN HEAD OF STATES SHOULD START TO BLAME EUROPEAN UNION INSTEAD OF THEIR CITIZENS WHO ARE TAKING IRREGULAR MIGRATION TO LOOK FOR BASIC HUMAN NEEDS.



 Reports from survivors relayed to IOM indicate that at least 252 people died during alleged forced expulsions by European authorities, also known as pushbacks, since 2021.Beyond a structural failure to provide adequate safe pathways, Missing Migrants Project records show that many of the deaths on migratory routes to destination countries in Europe could have been prevented by prompt and effective assistance to migrants in distress.

As a Gambian German base migration activist, I am calling on my Government and other African heads to emulate Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who in 2018 has expressed deep concerns over the cold-hearted treatment of African migrants in Europe.Ghanaian President did not mince words when he criticised the inhumane and abusive treatment of African migrants in Europe. He said this when the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, called on him at the Presidency during his time as Italian prime minister. The Ghanaian head of state had emphasized that  it was unacceptable for our African youth to be treated in that manner, simply because they were irregular immigrants in EU. He put to italian authorities that in the 19th Century, Europeans, including Italians, fled to the United States in their numbers due to poverty because there countries, in those days, were not considered as countries of opportunities.


“The phenomenon of migration in Africa is no different from the phenomenon of migration in their history. So the connection between migration and poverty is direct.

Both EU and African Governments should take irregular migration with seriousness instead of politicising it. Irregular migration is a global problem and a global problem needs a global solutions. European Union and African governments should join hands addressing the root causes of irregular migration, preventing and fighting smuggling and trafficking, strengthening protection for people fleeing their homes, improving cooperation on return and reintegration, and advancing the possibilities for legal migration so that fewer Africans might try dangerous irregular migration,”.




Publisher's Note


Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.


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Yahya Sonko, is a Migration and Human rights advocate, and Speaker at Refugee Council of Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

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