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ECOWAS takes on issues concerning harassment on highways and
borders
Accra, April 2, Ghanadot/GNA -
Representatives of civil society, the private sector and the
media from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
member-states are meeting in Accra under the auspices of the
ECOWAS Commission to fashion out practical ways to stem
harassment on the highways and borders within the region.
The three-day meeting which opened on Wednesday, is to
mobilize civil society, the private sector and the media to
combat harassment on the highways and at the borders because
they are the main victims and beneficiaries of the
implementation of the ECOWAS protocol on free movement.
Participants would also take a critical look at the ECOWAS
Commission’s memorandum on the status of the implementation
of regional protocols on free movement, right of residence
and establishment of citizenship and come up with
recommendation to effect those provisions.
The memorandum recalled that since the adoption of the
ECOWAS protocol relating to free movement, the right of
residence and establishment of citizenship on May 29, 1979,
individual member-states had perpetually violated its
provisions.
It noted that those protocols provided for the removal of
barriers between member-states to ensure free movement of
persons, goods and services, grant community citizenship to
nationals of member-states and the right of residence and
establishment of enterprises by citizens of member-states.
By extension, the protocols also provided for the abolition
of visa requirement for ECOWAS citizens travelling within
the sub-region, issuance of ECOWAS passports and travellers’
certificate to be recognized by all member-states and the
use of ECOWAS Travellers cheques for trading, among other
things.
“Despite all these measures, travelling within the ECOWAS
sub-region is extremely difficult, on account of the
ever-increasing number of illegal barriers and roadblocks,
and the extortion of money from travellers at every
checkpoint,” the memorandum said.
It noted that on the basis of the provision of the
protocols, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr
Mohamed Ibn Chambas appointed an eight-member committee to
study the situation at the borders and on the highways and
make recommendations regarding the status of implementation
of free movement protocols with the sub-region.
The committee observed that with the exception of Burkina
Faso, which recently reduced the number of checkpoints
considerably, a large number of illegal roadblocks still
existed in all the other member-states and systematic
racketeering was also rife at such places.
The committee noted that, among other things, joint security
patrols set up to combat organized crime had been turned
into toll stations with security officials from immigration,
customs and police extorting money from travellers.
“At some borders, volunteers are recruited by immigration
officers to carry out racketeering activities, some borders
close at 10 pm whereas they are supposed to be operating
round the clock and by that, they give way for criminal
activities to be perpetrated,” the committee noted.
It also observed that even though all member-countries had
ratified the free movement protocols and their supplementary
text, immigration officers refused to recognize national
identity cards as a valid intra-ECOWAS travel document from
sub-regional citizens.
The committee also noted that, apart from Benin, Nigeria,
Senegal, Guinea, Liberia and Niger, where all the three
types of ECOWAS passports, namely the ordinary, service and
diplomatic passports have been put into circulation, the
other member-states gave excuses that they had a backlog of
national passports to issue.
The committee therefore identified national authorities
(governments), immigration, customs and security service,
the private sector and the media and the ECOWAS Commission
itself as key stakeholders in the holistic approach to stem
harassment and promote free movement as a major factor in
the realization of overall regional integrations.
It called on the ECOWAS Commission to lead the way in
ensuring public awareness about the rights of free movement
for ECOWAS citizens, education for the border security,
immigration and customs on free movement protocols,
establishment of joint border posts and restructuring of
such posts with appropriate facilities to facilitate
travelling process.
GNA
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