Stakeholders discuss mechanisms for child migrant protection
A workshop geared towards the expansion of activities of the West Africa Network (WAN) for the protection of children in Ghana has been held in Accra.
The objective of the workshop was to consolidate the WAN chain for the protection of migrant children and young people in Ghana by expanding the network to poorly covered areas and to strengthen referral mechanisms for the protection of children in mobility situations in West Africa.
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It was also to build the capacity of actors on the WAN mechanism and case management tools.
WAN is a transnational mechanism of coordination and collaboration between different actors in different countries for the referral, support/care and protection of children in vulnerable situations, on the move in West Africa.
It was set up in 2005 to respond to the transnational protection needs of children and young people on the move within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region and in Mauritania. All ECOWAS states and Mauritania are members of the WAN.
Each country has its own national network made up of civil society organisations, state social services, security services, community-based organisations and international organisations, including embassies, and managed by a national coordinator.
In Ghana, WAN is coordinated by SAid, which, thus, coordinates the national protection network.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, the Director of International Social Service, West Africa, Dr Djibrill Fall, said the event was, among other things, to discuss a harmonised mechanism that all the countries would have to validate.
Principle
The principle, he said, was to look at ways of cooperation in a country and in different countries not only to help better the children who were moving from a country, but to have common tools and a common strategy for all those countries to cooperate.
“That is why here in Ghana, we try also to reinforce and make stronger this network,” he said.
Ghana, he said, was important because “it is a country of destination and also a country of transit.
Cooperation
Dr Fall said sometimes children of Ghanaian parents were found in Senegal, Nigeria and in Cape Verde and so cooperation between Ghana and other countries was necessary.
He said children who left their countries and were in other countries needed to be supported so that they could develop well and that for instance, a Ghanaian child found in Nigeria wanting to play football could be helped to be a good football player in Nigeria.
For her part, the Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Comfort Asare, said a lot of work was being done.
“We respect people’s rights. You can’t just pick someone and force the person back home. We have protocols that guide the things that we do when it comes to human rights and when it comes to human rights protection issues.”
“So we work with other countries’ representatives to ensure that their homes have been prepared to receive them,” she said.