2007 International Convention at University of Ghana

The third annual SWA International Convention took place on March 8-11^th, 2007 at the University of Ghana-Legon and brought together over 200 student delegates from around the world to tackle the issue of human trafficking. Co-sponsored by UNICEF – Ghana, the Convention featured speakers from organizations such as Amnesty International – Ghana, the West African AIDS Foundation, the Christian Council of Ghana, Children’s Rights International, and the Apeadu Peace Center, as well as notable government guests, including the Interior Minister and the Minister of Women’s and Children’s Affairs.

Throughout the three days, participants were treated to a number of panel discussions that served to thoroughly educate them about the various facets of this horrific problem in order to evoke strategies for taking global action on the issue. After much deliberation, delegates passed three resolutions that SWA, as a committed anti-human trafficking organization, has pledged to follow for the duration of the year: Resolutions on combating trafficking of men, women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, and/or armed conflict.

Once again, new Chairs and Vice Chairs were elected for the three SWA Committees: the International Convention and Event Planning Committee, the Issues & Campaigns Committee, and the Membership & Outreach Committee who, with the assistance of the 2007 – 2008 SWA Speaker, led the deliberations and working resolution groups. The newly-elected Speaker and Vice-Speakers of the SWA, who are charged with representing the organization and ensuring that the actions of the different committees are in line with the mandate of our organization, gave their welcoming speeches as well. We would like to extend our best wishes and congratulations to the newly-elected SWA Assembly Speaker, Abigail Omolewa, from University of Birmingham in the UK, and Vice-Speakers Adebayo Waidi Gbenro from Ambrose Alli University in Nigeria, and Daniel Emmanuel Obiri from Cape Coast University in Ghana.

The Student World Assembly would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the SWA chapter and extensive volunteer staff at the University of Ghana-Legon for graciously hosting such a wonderful Convention. This was the largest International Convention to date, and it couldn’t have been so successful without all of you! We would also like to thank our entire membership for their continued dedication and support for the SWA through participation in programs that promote our ideals of democracy and human rights. SWA is gaining momentum and is stronger than ever because of all of you!