TOCs are organised crimes coordi­nated across national borders, involv­ing groups or individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures through violence and corruption and it includes human trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing.

According to her, women bore the brunt of TOCs and thus their per­spectives must be brought to bear on policies to curb such menace.

Ms Newman stated this in a speech read on her behalf by a Deputy Director of the Ministry of Gender. Children and Social Protection, Vera Karikari Bediako, during the opening of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) and ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) roundtable programme on impact of transnational organised crime on wom­en, in Accra yesterday.
The Minister said considering the active role women played in TOCs, it was crucial women were actively involved in programmes and policies to combat the menace.

The three-day programme which opened yesterday and would end on Thursday is on the theme “GIA­BA-EGDC Regional Roundtable Forum on Transnational Organised Crime Risk for Women in West Afri­ca.”

It is being attended by 50 partici­pants mostly women from government agencies and civil society organisations from all the ECOWAS Member states.

Ms Newman said TOCs were on the rise across West Africa and posed significant risks to women in the sub-region.

She said the roundtable forum was timely as it brought together decision makers from ECOWAS Member States and other key stakeholders to foster dialogue and build consensus on inte­grating women’s perspectives into the fifth against TOC in the sub-region.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Centre, Mr Kwaku Dua, said Ghana had enacted the necessary legal framework and strengthened institutions to fight TOC.

Mr Dua who is the National Corre­spondent of GIABA, said the work­shop was another stride by GIABA to tackle TOC which affected all the persons in the sub-region especially women.

The Commissioner, Human Devel­opment and Social Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Professor Fatou Sarr Sow, in a speech read on her behalf by the Principal Programme Officer of EGDC, Salimata Thiam, said the pro­gramme was to promote the security of women and fight against TOCs in West Africa.

She said terrorist financing, human and drug trafficking posed a threat to the development of ECOWAS and women and the programme was to come out with solution to address them.

The Director-General of GIABA, Mr Edwin W. Harris, in a speech read by the Acting Director of Evaluation and Compliance Directorate, Dr Jef­fery Isima, said GIABA viewed money laundering as the mother of all crimes and criminal activities and said women were victims, facilitators, as well as in­strument for the prevention of TOCs.

Mr Harris entreated ECOWAS member states to collaborate and expose perpetrators of TOCs, sayings “TOC criminals don’t fear jail, but what they fear is being associated with dirty money.”