Accra – IOM Ghana has donated document fraud detection equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) with funding provided by the Government of Canada. The equipment included passport reference manuals, compact magnifiers and document verification devices.

The 50 compact magnifiers will allow frontline GIS officers, in direct contact with travellers at entry/exit points to increase their document examination capacity on the ground while the document authentication and verification devices will ensure greater scrutiny in case of referrals for secondary level examination.

In addition, the donation included 45 copies of IOM’s Passport Examination Procedures Manual (PEPM) which is one of the world’s leading reference tools of its kind. It is designed for use by frontline immigration and border management officials and provides a standardized approach to the inspection and identification of fraudulent travel documents.

IOM Ghana Chief of Mission, Sylvia Lopez-Ekra said, “The project has made great strides with multi-country trainings on counter smuggling for land and maritime officials but also Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops successfully rolled out and duplicated in the three countries."

She added, "This has created a sizable pool of trainers on counter-smuggling in Ghana. The new equipment will help these officers operationalise the training they have received and facilitate the detection of fraudulent travel documents at the borders”. 

The project also aims to establish strong sub-regional coordination mechanisms while awareness and knowledge of migrant smuggling in raised.

The donation was made as part of the IOM counter-smuggling project, Addressing Counter-Smuggling and Protection Gaps in Ghana, Benin and Togo: Strengthening National and Regional Mechanisms, which is being implemented with support from the Canadian Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programme (ACCBP). The project which started in July 2016 and will run until December 2017 is intended to reduce participating countries’ (Ghana, Togo and Benin) vulnerability to migrant smuggling by enhancing their national capacity to counter this transnational threat.

Addressing Counter-Smuggling and Protection Gaps in Ghana, Benin and Togo: Strengthening National and Regional Mechanisms is a partnership between IOM Ghana, GIS, Ghana Revenue Authority – Customs Division, Ghana Police Service, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Attorney-General’s Department, Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Navy and Bureau of National Investigations.

For more information, please contact: Daniel Tagoe at IOM Ghana, Tel: 0302 742 930 Ext 2408 or +233 244 774 211, Email: dtagoe@iom.int