ECOWAS NON-STATE ACTORS PROJECT
EMPOWERING WOMEN,THE YOUTH
AND ECONOMIC OPERATORS ON
REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
PROCESS OF ECOWAS
• CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP FOR BORDER AGENTS (including
IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS) ON
•
ECOWAS PROTOCOL RELATING TO FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE IMMIGRATION FOR A “BORDERLESS ECOWAS”
• Prepared by Team Led by Frederick Alipui
• Executive Director, FSDA-Ghana, Accra
• Venue: Denu- Volta Region, Date: 3rd – 4th May 2011
Historical Background
• Migration among Africans in general and West
Africans in particular has been described as a
way of life and it dates back to the precolonial era. This is because the people have
migrated over the generations in response to
demographic, political and economic factors.
Thus, long distance across frontiers is not a
new thing now.
Pre- colonial Era
• Before the arrival of the colonial master, migration was
initially seen as population movements in response to
human needs like favorable ecological conditions,
fertile land, food, shelter as well as greater security
during the period of tribal wars in the 19th Century.
People moved from one location to another over large
tracks of lands without much restriction except the fear
and harm from wild animals, difficult means of
transportation, and poor access to information,
security threats posed by inter-ethnic wars, slave raids
and harsh climatic conditions. Examples of Ewe, Akan
and Ga migrating from different lands to their present
place called Ghana.
Colonial Period
• One of the remains of colonial rule is the demarcation or creation
of borders. In the efforts of Europeans to scramble for control over
the people and resources of Africa, these borders were made
without any regard for the social and cultural realities of the
indigenous people and as result, some ethnic groups like Nzema
and Bono (Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire), Ewe (Ghana and Togo), Yoruba
(Nigeria and Benin), Hausa (Nigeria, Niger, Mali) Mende (Liberia and
Sierra Leone) were divided and found themselves in different
countries. The ethnic groups in the adjacent countries regarded
movements across these artificial boundaries as part of their
internal movements. Their cultural affinity facilitated movement
across these borders and integration, especially where they speak
the language of the indigenous people in the host country.
•
Post- Colonial Era
• In the early days of post colonial era, that is few
years after the independence of most countries,
efforts put in place to consolidate the boundaries
created did not hinder movement across borders
significantly. However, this was short lived
beginning late 1960s as restrictions on
movements across borders imposed to protect
economic and political interests of the individual
countries became important because of:
• Coup D’états
• Job security of their nationals.
IMPORTANT QUESTION
• Against the backdrop of migration
configurations in the sub-region,
what progress has been made and
what are the constraints in creating a
borderless sub-region and fostering
intra-regional migration?
Regional Economic Communities.
(RECs)
• African Heads of States had realized that in order to achieve the
economic growth of free trade areas, customs unions, and single
market, common currency etc. in Africa, there was the need to start
from the regional levels. Thus, various Regional Economic
Communities, RECs were created. The following are the various
Regional Economic Communities in Africa:
• From the Northern Africa, we have UMA (Arab Maghreb Union).
• From the Southern Africa, we have SADC( Southern African
Development Community).
• From the Central Africa, we have ECCAS( Economic Community of
Central African States).
• From the Eastern Africa, we have EAC ( Eastern African Community).
• From the Western Africa, we have ECOWAS/ CEDEAO( Economic
Community of West African States).
Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS)
• ECOWAS as one of the regional economic
groupings in Africa was founded on 28 May
1975, with the signing of the Treaty in Lagos
and has fifteen countries. (Benin, Burkina
Faso,
• Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea , Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo)
Chapter and Articles
• There are about twenty two (22) Chapters and
Ninety-three (93) Articles under the ECOWAS
Treaty.
Aims and Objectives
• The aims of the Community are to promote
co-operation and integration, leading to the
establishment of an economic union in West
Africa in order to raise the living standards of
its peoples, and to maintain and enhance
economic stability, foster relations among
Member States and contribute to the progress
and development of the African Continent.
•
What to do to achieve the aims and
objectives of ECOWAS
• The Head of States realized that the aims will only be achieved
through:
• the liberalization of trade by the abolition among Member States of
custom duties levied on imports and exports and the abolition
among Member States of non-tariff barriers in order to establish a
free trade area at the ECOWAS community level;
• the adoption of a common external tariff and a common trade
policy vis-à-vis third countries;
• the removal between Member States of obstacles to free
movement of persons, goods, service and capital, and to the right
of residence and establishment
Relevant entitlements in the
protocols
• Article 27, Paragraph 1 of ECOWAS Treaty affirmed the need for economic
integration, which includes free movement of persons, goods and services
and capital by calling on the Member States of ECOWAS to gradually
remove all obstacles to free movement of persons, services and capital.
Paragraph 2 of the same article requires Member States of ECOWAS to
stop demanding visa and allow West Africans to enter, work and
undertake commercial and industrial activities within their territories. The
following rights exist under the protocol on free movement:
• The right of entry and the right of stay and movement of vehicles for the
transportation of persons.
• The right of residence
• The right of establishment of or access to enterprises
• The first phase of the protocol relates to the
abolition of visas and entry permit and the
right of movement of vehicles within ECOWAS
states which was ratified in 1980. Some of the
provisions are as follows:
THE RIGHT OF ENTRY AND THE RIGHT
OF STAY
• Any citizen of the ECOWAS community who wishes to enter the
territory of any other Member State shall be required to possess a
valid travel document (ID card, Passport, ECOWAS Passport etc.)
and an international health certificate.
• Any ECOWAS citizen can enter and stay in another ECOWAS country
for 90 days without any visa once he enters through an official entry
point, for example, airport or border posts. Such citizen shall,
however, be required to obtain permission for an extension of stay
from the appropriate authority if after such entry that citizen has
cause to stay for more than ninety (90) days.
• However, a member state can refuse the admission of any
individual into its territory if that person is inadmissible under its
immigration laws.
MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES FOR THE
TRANSPORTATION OF PERSONS
•
In order to facilitate the movement of persons transported in private or
commercial vehicles the following shall apply:
•
A private vehicle registered in a member state may enter another member state
and remain there for 90 days upon presentation of the following documents to
the competent authority of that Member State:
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•
•
•
•
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Valid driving license
Matriculation Certificate (Ownership Card) or Log Book.
Insurance Policy recognised by Member States
International customs documents recognised within the Community.
A commercial vehicle registered in a member state and carrying passengers may
enter another member state and remain there for 15 days upon presentation of
the following documents to the competent authority of that Member State :
- Valid driving license
- Matriculation Certificate (Ownership Card) or Log Book.
- Insurance Policy recognized by Member States
- International customs documents recognized within the Community
THE RIGHT OF RESIDENCE
• The second phase of the protocols guarantees
the right of residence of ECOWAS citizens in
the territory of other member states and it
was ratified by all member states in 1986.
Some of the provisions in the protocol are as
follows:
One(1)
• All ECOWAS countries shall grant to citizens of ECOWAS the right of
residence in their territory for the purpose of seeking and carrying
out income earning employment.
• The right of residence shall include the right :
• to apply for jobs ;
• to travel freely in that country for that purpose ;
• to reside to take up employment ;
• to live in the territory according to the legislative and administrative
provisions of the host. The only exceptions are for reasons of public
order, public security and public health and employment in the civil
service.
Two (2)
• Citizens who enter another state without visas but
decide to reside there shall be obliged to obtain an
ECOWAS RESIDENCE CARD or a RESIDENCE PERMIT.
• The application for the RESIDENCE CARD or RESIDENCE
PERMIT shall be made to the Department of
Immigration.
• The duration and validity of the residence card is three
(3) years renewable. Refusal is possible on the grounds
of public order, public security or public health.
• Provisions are made for border area, seasonal and
itinerant workers.
Three(3)
• Protection against individual expulsion and
respect for the fundamental human rights of
migrant workers:
a.
• Any expulsion must be based on well-founded
legal or administrative decision taken in
accordance with the law.
b.
• The immigrant, his government and the
Executive Secretary must be informed of the
decision to expel him.
c.
• He has the right of appeal which may lead to a
suspension of the expulsion unless national
security or public order requires otherwise.
d.
• If the immigrant wins the appeal and he has
already been expelled, he could claim
damages.
e.
• Migrant worker has the right to transfer all or
parts of his earnings or savings
THE RIGHT OF ESTABLISHMENT OF OR
ACCESS TO ENTERPRISES
• This section discusses the salient provisions in
the protocol relating to the third phase, that
is, the right of establishment ratified in 1990.
The protocol accord citizens of ECOWAS the
right to set up or have access to enterprises in
other member states without discrimination.
Example.1
• Nigerian banks carrying on business in Ghana
(UBA, GT Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank and
Intercontinental Bank). In the same vein, UT
Financial services, Ghana’s second most
respected company recently announced that it
was entering the Nigerian market
Example 2
• . Another example is Regimanuel Gray
Estates; an estate development company in
Ghana has set up operations in Sierra Leone.
Even in the unlikely event of expropriation or
nationalization, provision is made for the
payment of fair and equitable compensation.
CHALLENGES
• There are key issues regarding the operations
of the protocol that Member States agreed to
use as a starting point. They include:
• Absence of adequate mechanisms to control
infiltration of criminals
• Lack of harmonization of national laws and
policies on migration
• Absence of valid travelling documents including
birth certificates. This has been exploited by
persons who carry out nefarious activities such as
internet fraud, money laundering, and human
trafficking.
• There are also concerns that the privileges
enshrined in the protocol have been abused by
some citizens of the sub-region. Some of the
abuses include smuggling of goods and illicit
trade in narcotic.
• Political instability that is the existence of
political and social unrest in some Member
States distracts the attention of the
governments from fulfilling their obligations.
• Member States are at different levels of
economic development and this has impeded
realization of free movement of persons
within the sub-region. In view of this, the
direction of movement is toward certain
economic development thereby putting
undue stress on these economics. For
instance, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and until
recently Cote d’Ivoire have been at the
receiving ends of the population movement.
• Harassment practices also hinder the
implementation of the protocol, including the
numerous checkpoints on the various
corridors, leading to unnecessary delays and
extortion of monies from passengers and
cargo drivers.
• In spite of ratifying the protocol which
ushered in the free movement of persons in
the sub-region, several border checks
continue to exist. This has resulted in severe
harassment and extortion of money from
travelers by security personnel at the
numerous checkpoints.
WAYFORWARD
• There is the need for harmonization of
national laws which conflict with the regional (
whole Africa) and sub-regional( ECOWAS)
treaties and to address the issue of the right
of entry, reside and establish.
• Nationals, especially potential migrants,
should be provided with adequate
information on the full provisions of the
protocol on free movement of the persons
and the rules and regulations guiding entry,
residence and employment in Member States
• There is the need for valid documents. Efforts
should be made to enhance access of the
population to nationalId card and passports,
and in due course, ECOWAS passports, by
decentralizing the issuing authorities to
district and local levels.
• There should be a strong political will to deal
with the issues
• Governments should streamline law
enforcement agencies that operate at the
borders. They should be sensitized and their
activities be harmonized
• Finally, Border Agents should coorperate to
help government achieve the vision of a “
Borderless ECOWAS”
CONCLUSION
• Despite the fact that the protocol on free
movement of persons came into effect several
years ago, that has not been without
challenges that severely compromise its
realization. There will have to be significant
and ,in many ways deep changes in the
conduct of the affairs of the sub-region.These
changes are to be made in a serious,
committed and sustained manner.
• FSDA-Ghana thanks You Very Much for Your
Time
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