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Nana Adwoa Awindor (3rd right), Mrs Laurencia Akorli (left), Madam Josephine Konadu Koduah (2nd right), Mr Hussein A. Rahman (right) and Mr Edmond Vanderpuye (2nd left) displaying the report.
Nana Adwoa Awindor (3rd right), Mrs Laurencia Akorli (left), Madam Josephine Konadu Koduah (2nd right), Mr Hussein A. Rahman (right) and Mr Edmond Vanderpuye (2nd left) displaying the report.

Sexual exploitation of children in Ghana's tourism industry on the rise - Study

A study by Ghana Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Coalition on the Right of the Child (GNCRC) has revealed sexual exploitation of children in tourism as a growing threat in Ghana.

According to the report, a common manifestation of sexual exploitation of children in tourism is child prostitution and it occurs in tourism destinations, towns and cities.

The study further reveals that the key hot spots of this occurrence include beach resorts, hotels and other notable identifiable places for leisure activities in the cities.

Perpetrators

“Perpetrators of the sexual exploitation of children included domestic and international tourists and migrant workers in fishing, construction, entertainment, mining and oil sectors,” it noted.

It said perpetrators were situation offenders that were engaging in child exploitation when they travelled because they thought it was an opportunity and they felt they would get away with it.

Although girls were mostly the victims, the study indicated that boys were believed to be sexually exploited by international travellers from the Western and Asian countries.

The study forms part of a global research on sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism sectors, initiated by ECPAT International and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands through ECPAT-Defence for Children in the Netherlands.

In Ghana, the study is undertaken by GNCRC, an affiliate of ECPAT International. 

Recommendations

At a ceremony to launch the report in Accra last Friday, the National Coordinator of the GNCRC, Mr Barima Akwasi Amankwaah, said the study was to promote targeted actions aimed at eliminating commercial sex tourism.

He said the study, which also explored the response of policy and legal frameworks to commercial sex tourism and identified the gaps therein, was conducted in capital cities of three regions, namely Western, Central and Greater Accra regions, as well as some surrounding environs.

Subsequently, Mr Amankwaah said the study revealed that although Ghana had enacted adequate child protection laws and policies, the issue of commercial sex tourism was subsumed under sexual offences and not specifically captured in the laws and policies.

Additionally, he said there was weak enforcement of child protection laws, especially those that related to commercial sexual exploitation of children.

He, therefore, recommended that efforts be made to empower parents and families to be able to support their children, while sensitisation on commercial sex tourism should be intensified.

“Social services for victims should be scaled up and improved across the country and existing child protection laws and policies need to be amended to make specific reference on commercial sex tourism,” he said.

He also said law enforcement agencies needed to be well-resourced to enable them adequately execute their mandate. 

Parents’ responsibility

In her address, the Director of Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Chief Superintendent Rev. Mrs Laurencia W. Akorli, said child protection was a priority of the Ghana Police Service.

Nonetheless, she said parents had a primary responsibility to ensure the safety and protection of children and added that it was a crime for parents to neglect their children.

“Parents denied children of education when they allowed them to use their school hours to sell on the street and engage in other menial jobs to get money,” she said, adding that “children are the future leaders and should be protected.”

Television host and queenmother, Nana Adwoa Awindor, who chaired the programme, said Ghanaians needed to be sensitised to the sexual exploitation of children in tourism, which is a growing trend.

She said the act, which was supported by some ritualists who demanded that their clients slept with children, should be condemned. She added that the media needed to lead the advocacy campaign, to reduce the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the tourism sector in Ghana.

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