Anglican Diocese of Accra campaign against child trafficking
A five-year campaign to support the elimination of child trafficking in Ghana has been launched by the Anglican Diocese of Accra.
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The campaign will focus on awareness creation through the use of symbols and slogans, community mobilisation and outreach educational programmes, capacity building, institutional strengthening and networking.
Other initiatives include individual and group empowerment, checking abuse and supporting victims; and engaging stakeholders, as well as taking other pragmatic measures to address the root causes of child trafficking in the country.
Shelter
Launching the campaign in Accra last Friday, the Bishop of the Accra Diocese of the Anglican Church, Right Reverend Dr Daniel Sylvanus Mensah Torto, said the church, as part of its five-year campaign, would also build a new community shelter to be called the “Hope Community for the Resettlement of Rescued Trafficking Children’’.
He said “the rescued children who would be sent to the shelter would have a new home, get access to education and be assisted to develop their God-given talent, thereby securing them a brighter future”.
He further stated that the Anglican Diocese of Accra, in its quest to support efforts to address and eliminate the menace, had adapted a three-tier theory of change to drive the individual, societal and systematic level of change.
He added that the church had also adapted four-prong strategies, namely protection, education, livelihood and advocacy to identify the root cause of child trafficking in Ghana.
Raising awareness
Explaining the four strategies, Rt Rev. Torto said the child protection aspect would entail raising awareness for behavioural change, and of rehabilitation, a curative strategy of rescue, re-integration and monitoring of victims of child trafficking in the country.
He continued that the education aspect of the campaign involved supporting children from deprived families, as well as educating rescued children.
“The advocacy aspect would focus on influencing national and international policies, laws and programmes that protect children and also push for law enforcement,” he added
He further explained that the “Livelihood category would focus on sustainable economic empowerment for deprived families as a way of reducing poverty which has been the main underlying factor for child trafficking in Ghana”.
The campaign is a collaboration between the Anglican Diocese of Accra and the United States Embassy.
In his address, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert Porter Jackson, said his government had collaborated with the government of Ghana on numerous occasions to help eliminate child trafficking in the country, stressing that his country was committed to helping eliminate child trafficking in Ghana.
According to him, the United States had signed a $5million child protection compact agreement with Ghana to combat child trafficking.
In addition, he said his government supported Ghana with GH¢32 million to get children working in cocoa and mining sectors out of those areas.
Report offenders
He urged the public to join in the fight by reporting offenders to the police or church leaders for appropriate action to be taken.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, the acting Executive Secretary of the Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Secretariat, Ms Victoria Natsu, said the Human Trafficking Regulation (LI 2219) that was passed recently spelt out the various penalties for trafficking in persons.
She commended the Anglican Diocese of Accra for the initiative to help eliminate child trafficking in the country.
The launch coincided with the one-week camp meeting of the Anglican Sunday School Association (ASSA) which started recently at the Achimota Senior High School, Accra.