Denmark equips Ghana Immigration Service to Combat Document Fraud

The project “Strengthening Border and Migration Management in Ghana” (SMMIG), funded by the Danish Embassy in Accra and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), donated 30 computers, 2 multifunction printers, a 4×4 vehicle, a camera, 2 high-level document verification devices, 3 forensic magnifiers and 320 3-in-1 magnifiers (for examining travel and source documents at the borders) to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).

The SMMIG project is designed to support the Government of Ghana in strengthening its institutional and operational capacities to manage irregular migration flows, with a specific focus on document fraud detection. It is a well-known fact that criminals often hide behind fake documents to hide their identity and avoid detection, which is why this project is both timely and pertinent.

Within the framework of the project, ICMPD has been working closely with the GIS Document Fraud expertise Centre (DFEC) to strengthen their capacity and that of frontline officers to detect document fraud. In addition to the equipment, the project has trained 100 GIS officers on document examination, with training of another 300 officers foreseen in the coming months. The project also supported the drafting of training materials and handbooks on document security for GIS frontline officers, to ensure continuous training and retraining of GIS officers on document fraud detection.The donation will contribute to further strengthening the capacity of the GIS officers to achieve their mandate of combatting irregular migration and managing migration flows.