Challenging Heights, a child-centred non-governmental organisation, has rescued 25 trafficked children, aged between six and 14 years, from forced labour on Lake Volta in its latest rescue operation.
The announcement was made in Accra on August 31, 2026, to coincide with National Children's Day.
The rescued children were 18 boys and seven girls.
According to the organisation, the higher number of boys was consistent with the pattern it continued to encounter in fishing-related child labour and trafficking on Lake Volta, where children were taken away from the safety of their families, denied education and subjected to hazardous work.
Recovery centre
All 25 children have been safely moved to the Challenging Heights Recovery Centre, where they are currently receiving medical care, psychosocial support and full recovery services.
The rescue was conducted at the weekend in collaboration with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service and the Department of Social Welfare.
The operation covered several communities stretching from the Bono East and Northern regions of Ghana.
The organisation said the children had been subjected to harrowing forms of forced labour that no child should ever have to endure.
National Children's Day
The rescue comes as Ghana marks National Children's Day on the theme: "Amplifying Children's Voices on Abuse in Ghana: Promoting Child Protection, Participation and Advocacy".
In a statement, Challenging Heights noted that in Ghana, an estimated 3.4 million children experienced physical or emotional abuse, while nearly one in five children aged five to 17 was engaged in child labour.
It added that approximately 20,000 children were in forced child labour in the fishing industry on Lake Volta, with almost 90 per cent suffering physical, emotional or verbal abuse.
Global statistics
Globally, the organisation cited the Global Slavery Index, which estimated that about 50 million people were trapped in modern slavery on any given day, with one in four victims being a child, while annual profits from forced labour amounted to $235 billion, according to International Labour Organisation reports.
On the occasion of National Children's Day, Challenging Heights called for immediate and decisive action.
It urged the government to adequately resource child protection and anti-trafficking institutions, including the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and the Department of Social Welfare, to ensure timely investigation, rescue, care and prosecution, and called on law enforcement and the justice system to ensure traffickers face consequences under Ghanaian law.
It also appealed to parents and caregivers to listen to children and reject practices that exposed them to hazardous labour and exploitation, urging every Ghanaian to actively report suspected cases of abuse and trafficking.
The organisation, which has for over two decades rescued nearly three thousand children and young people from trafficking, said in the first-half of 2026 alone, together with its partners, they had supported the rescue of 144 victims of trafficking and modern slavery.
