The co-chair of the Economic Community Of West African States’ joint committees on Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment, Legal Affairs, and Human Rights, Snowe Edwin, has dismissed concerns that the ECOWAS free movement protocols pose a threat to regional security.
Following a week-long joint committee meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, Edwin emphasized that these protocols are fully compatible with national security measures.
Speaking to journalists, Edwin clarified that the free movement protocols allow security agencies to conduct necessary checks while urging against the misuse of such measures for extortion or intimidation of travelers.
His remarks were in response to concerns raised by border officials at the Karang-Amdalai border between The Gambia and Senegal, who suggested that national security should take precedence over the implementation of the protocols.
Edwin highlighted the ongoing challenges in fully implementing the ECOWAS agreement, stating that many citizens and security personnel are not fully aware of the protocols.
To address this, he called for increased public awareness and education efforts, including distributing copies of the protocols to Customs and Immigration officials and conducting sensitization campaigns on social media and in schools.
“We want to do more awareness. Many citizens have not heard about the protocols, they do not know the protocols.
“We want to make copies of the different protocols and distribute them widely to Customs, Immigration and others so that they can have copies of the protocol and respect the protocols.
“We also must do it on social media, in the schools for our students to know because some students do not know about these protocols,” the co-chair added.
Another ECOWAS Parliament member, Maimuna Ceesay, echoed Edwins’s concerns, sharing her experience of being extorted by security officials while transporting goods across the Senegal-Gambia border.
She emphasized the importance of monitoring border activities and educating both citizens and security officers to ensure proper enforcement of the protocols.
The joint committee recommended “robust sensitisation campaigns” to educate both citizens and government officials on the Protocol on Free Movement.
In addition, they urged that the protocols be made available to all Immigration Officers, especially at border posts, and incorporated into training exercises for Immigration and Customs officials.
“The Free Movement Protocol should be made available to all Immigration Officers, especially at the border posts. All training exercises of Immigration and Customs officials should include training on the relevant community texts.”
