Ahead of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, marked worldwide on July 30, Challenging Heights has revealed that it supported the rescue of 144 victims of trafficking and modern slavery in the first half of 2026 alone.
The organisation, which works with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service and other partners, said the victims included 42 children rescued from forced labour on Lake Volta—19 boys and 23 girls—and 102 Nigerian nationals—60 girls and 42 boys—all between the ages of 13 and 29.
In a press statement issued on July 29, 2026, Challenging Heights cautioned the Ghanaian public that modern slavery is real and exists among us, noting that too many compatriots remain in denial. According to the Global Slavery Index, an estimated 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day, over 7 million of them in Africa alone. The International Labour Organisation estimates that forced labour generates illegal profits in excess of US$236 billion every year.
The statement said the forms of exploitation are as varied as they are cruel. Some children were used for fishing on Lake Volta, while others were forced into cyber-criminal activities. The girls trafficked from Nigeria were forced into dehumanising commercial sexual exploitation, including in mining communities such as Obuasi and in the Upper East Region. Typically, these young women are deceived with false promises of decent work in Ghana—in groceries, restaurants and supermarkets—only to be trapped, exploited and abused on arrival.
One teenage girl, who had been in Ghana for about 11 months, was carrying a two-week-old baby at the time of her rescue. She told Challenging Heights that the woman who held her had done everything possible to sell her baby.
Most disturbing of all, several survivors have given consistent accounts of what they describe as an organised baby-harvesting and baby-selling operation—in which young Nigerian women are brought into Ghana, made pregnant, and held until they deliver babies who are then sold. Challenging Heights said it has not independently verified these accounts but considers them grave, credible and consistent enough to demand an immediate and thorough investigation by the security agencies.
Challenging Heights commended the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service and the Human Trafficking Secretariat for their courage and commitment, often under severe resource constraints.
On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, Challenging Heights called on the security agencies to mount a massive, coordinated investigative operation to unravel the suspected baby-harvesting and baby-selling syndicate, rescue any victims still held, and bring the perpetrators to justice under the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694). The organisation also called on the Government of Ghana to adequately resource the agencies mandated to fight trafficking, reiterating its call for a minimum allocation of GH¢20 million to properly equip these agencies to prevent, investigate and prosecute trafficking. It further called on the Government of Nigeria and Nigerian civil society to mount vigorous public-awareness campaigns to warn young Nigerians against deceptive offers of work abroad.
"Every one of these children and young people has a name, a family and a future that trafficking tried to steal," said Mr James Kofi Annan, Founder and President of Challenging Heights. "The accounts we have heard this year—of a teenage girl whose baby a trafficker tried to sell, of young women brought here to be made pregnant so that their children can be traded—should shake the conscience of every Ghanaian and every Nigerian. We cannot look away. We are calling for action, not tomorrow, but now."
Over the past two decades, Challenging Heights has supported the rescue of nearly 3,000 children and young people from trafficking and exploitation and has provided long-term rehabilitation, reintegration and livelihood support to thousands more.
