IOM to train journos on concepts of migration today

By Omar Bah The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will today commence a two-day training workshop on the key concepts and terminologies of migration for fifteen Gambian journalists at the Alliance Francaise Gambiene. Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. IOM works to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people. This training, according to the IOM official, is deem fitting given the fact that West and Central Africa regions have a long history of intra- and extra-regional migration. According to the PRM Project Assistant, IOM – The UN Migration Agency (Gambia Office), Caroline Crawford, West Africa in particular, has the highest intra-regional mobility in sub-Saharan Africa, due to the free movement protocols in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which facilitate population movements within this community. She said the rapidly growing population and a high percentage of young people under the age of 35, most countries in West and Central Africa, are subject to socio-economic challenges. “Along the migratory routes the vulnerability of migrants is increasing. Indeed, having left their traditional environment and lacking the protection normally provided by their communities, migrants often find themselves at the mercy of criminal networks that set up exploitation mechanisms,” she said. She continued: “The project ‘Protecting vulnerable migrants in West and Central Africa’ ​​is a regional project funded by the Office of the Population of Refugees and Migration (US State Secretariat). The assistance covered West and Central Africa with countries such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Senegal benefiting civil society and the media among others”.]]>