NGO rescues 41 children from trafficking on Volta Lake
Child trafficking and forced labour are serious problems that affect children in Ghana. Data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicate that 1.9 million children aged 5-17 are engaged in child labour with 1.2 million of the children engaged in hazardous labour.
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Ghana was downgraded to the Tier 2 Watch-List status in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TiP) report, which deemed the government’s efforts insufficient to tackle the problem.
Data from GSS
According to data released by the GSS, an estimated 21,000 children are said to be trapped in hazardous labour on the Volta Lake.
In 2014, Ghana made a moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The government reconstituted the Human Trafficking Management Board (HTMB), which had been inactive, in 2013.
Additionally, the Ghana Police Service's Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) nearly doubled the number of investigators it employed and provided members with training on how to identify, investigate and prosecute child labour cases.
However, children in Ghana continue to engage in the worst forms of child labour in agriculture, including on cocoa farms and in fishing.
Initiative by Challenging Heights
A non-governmental organisation, Challenging Heights, rescued 41 children from trafficking on the Volta Lake from January to November, last year.
The organisation has also provided a comprehensive medical, psychological, physical, social and educational rehabilitation for 118 survivors of trafficking.
At the organisation’s 2015 Annual General Meeting in Accra, the President of Challenging Heights, Mr James Kofi Annan, said children rescued were reintegrated with their families after spending between three and nine months at Challenging Height’s shelter established at Winneba in the Central Region.
Awareness programmes
Mr Annan said through targeted awareness programmes, knowledge and understanding about trafficking and child rights abuse had increased at Winneba and surrounding areas in the Central Region.
“We reached thousands of vulnerable and underserved people in 2015, by not only directly saving children but empowering their families and wider communities to bring about long-term systematic change,” he added.
Mr Annan said the organisation’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme (WEEP) supported 254 local women who had vulnerable children, with the provision of loans and trainings in various skills.
“We inaugurated a smoke house with 56 smoke ovens to be used by local women’s cooperatives, with an additional 30 women provided with oven racks for use at home,” he said.
Mr Annan said the Challenging Heights school supported over 720 children in 2015 while the organisation’s Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP) trained 124 young men and 114 young women in ICT.
He, therefore, urged the government to increase its efforts to prosecute trafficking offenders and also provide funds for the Human Trafficking Fund and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Police Service to enhance their operations.