United Nation Association of Ghana has organised a day's forum for senior high school (SHS) students in Accra on the challenges of illegal migration.

The sensitisation programme was organised with the objective of educating students on the dangers of illegal migration.

It was aimed at giving students an insight into the challenges that illegal immigrants face.

The sensitisation programme brought together, students from the various senior high schools in Accra which included Accra High School, Achimota School, Accra Wesley Girls High School and Accra Academy.

Vice-Chairman of Secretary General of the United Nation Association of Ghana, Mrs. Janet Edna Nyame, addressing the students explained that they chose SHS students because majority of illegal migrants were youth, hence the need to educate them to desist from such practice.

According to her, statistics from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) showed that 346 Ghanaians aged between 20 and 40 years were deported from Europe within the first three months of 2011.

She added that the Association targeted SHS students because “many of these students are those who fall victim to illegal migration and they form majority of the people who are often deported.”

Mrs. Nyame said it was better for the students to learn a trade or some form of vocational education in Ghana, if one was not able to continue his or her education rather than travel illegally.

She advised the students not to be swayed by the false stories they hear from returnees because most of them do not tell the truth about what they face when they go out there.

She therefore urged them to stay in the country instead of going through the hustle and bustle in other countries.

Mrs. Nyame noted that most prospective migrants were also ignorant of the economic and socio-cultural challenges they sometimes face on their arrival in other countries.

Head of Migration Bureau of GIS, Mrs. Adwoa Sika Anim, on her part, said: “Illegal migration is rampant in Ghana with lots of the immigrants being youth.”

She mentioned fatalities in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, unemployment, poor living conditions and over working in dirty, dangerous and difficult work sites as some effects of irregular and illegal migration.

She added that there was pressure on North African countries to clamp down on irregular migration occurring over their countries through increased border controls, tightening of migration laws, readmitting irregular migrants from Europe and deporting others from their countries.

According to Mrs. Anim, most immigrants end up engaging in prostitution and other activities because they do not have the right and genuine documents to allow them get decent jobs.

She added that aside from the possibility that they might be intercepted and deported, illegal immigrants might also be trafficked for exploitation, including serial exploitation while others might also be engaged in criminal activities