Govt steps up action to rescue trafficked children - Otiko Djaba
Fifty-five trafficked children were rescued in joint operations conducted by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Ghana Police Service along the Volta Lake between 2015 and 2016.
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During the same period, the operations, which were supported by the International Justice Mission, saw the arrest of 27 suspected child and human traffickers.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Djaba, said two women and seven children were also rescued in rescue operations conducted by the police and the ministry in Elmina in the Central Region recently.
She stated that “the 27 suspects are currently going through prosecution process”.
‘Dissuade children’
To curb child trafficking, she urged parents, chiefs and community leaders to dissuade their children from embarking on hazardous journeys in search of greener pastures.
Such advice, she said, would protect the country’s future leaders from being preyed upon by child and human traffickers who engaged the children in hazardous jobs that jeopardised their future.
“Giving out your children, who are the nation’s future leaders, for just GH¢200 or GH¢500 pittance exposes them to enormous dangers that jeopardise their future dreams.
“In the same vein, parents should ensure children enjoy their childhood by not trafficking them into fishing, mining and the quarry industries for work,” she stated.
Boosting fight against trafficking
The minister stated that since February 2017, much effort had been made to build on what various existing interventions to fight child and human trafficking in the country had achieved and the Gender Ministry was committed to taking the fight to another level.
Towards such a goal, she said, the ministry, this year, validated and finalised the new Human Trafficking National Plan of Action from 2017 to 2021, a comprehensive document to support the effective implementation of the Human Trafficking Act of 205, Act 694.
Ms Djaba stated that the government had provided three pick-up vehicles for the Ghana Police Service’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit to support its operations in combating trafficking.
Additionally, she said, under the US Child Protection Compact (CPC) agreement, the anti-human trafficking units in the Volta, Central and Greater Accra regions had also received six vehicles from the CPC project to effectively fight trafficking.
Government’s support
The minister said the government had budgeted GH¢1.5 million for the Human Trafficking Secretariat under the ministry to support the fight against trafficking.
Part of the amount, she said, would also be used to renovate an adult shelter and renovate the children’s shelter at Madina in Accra.
“An account has been opened for the Human Trafficking Fund, as stated under Section 20 of Act 694, with GH¢500,000 as seed money, while subsequent support will be sought.
“We have also started the process to recruit professionals to manage the adult and children shelters,” she stated.
Ms Djaba said the Madina shelter had been given a facelift after a collaborative effort among the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Ministry of the Interior and Societe Generale, explaining that the renovation covered the building of the broken wall and the provision of potable water for use at the place.
