More to be Done on Illegal Migration: National Task Force

Addis Ababa September 05/2018 Curbing illegal migration requires a concerted and integrated efforts of all stakeholders, Attorney General said. National Illegal immigration Prevention Task Force deliberated on its performance report for 2018 for two days at Bishoftu town, Ormomia Regional State. Teka Gebre Kidan, Deputy Attorney General and Chairman of the Task Force said that more has been accomplished over the fiscal year in preventing, promoting the rule of law and in rehabilitating the victims while awareness creation trainings were provided to members of the communities concerned. Since its establishment in 2015, the Task force has labored a lot in educating the public on the menace of illegal human migration. However, the Deputy Attorney General said despite the successes that have been attained there are still gaps in coordination and provision of support and monitoring as well as conducting researches to uproot the major causes of illegal migration. Teka stressed on the need for integrated and concerted actions to maximize the results of preventive activities. He called for a united and coordinated action of women and youth victims of illegal migration and various community organizations to bring about a meaningful result in curbing illegal migration. Even if various grass root level organizations were formed to halt the progress of illegal migration, no meaningful progress have been made, Eshetu Alene, Human Rights Affairs Head at Amhara Bureau of Justice remarked. He added that human traffickers have already started to use tourist visas as a means of luring   citizens into illegal migration, He also added that the Task Force was far below expectations in fighting off illegal migration. Desalegen Dendena attorney at Oromia Bureau of Justice said that over the previous  budget year 100 illegal human traffickers were rounded up to face the courts of law. Fifty four of these were sentenced from 4 to 20 years while the rest are waiting for their verdicts. He added that some were also penalized to pay 200,000 Birr. Jimma, Bale, Western Harargie, Arsie, Eastern Harergie, Western Arsie are focal zones of illegal migration in Oromia, Desalegen said. Participants of the Task Force drawn from offices of justice, security forces and representatives of media outlets discussed on the report.