NGO advocates support for Police in fight against child trafficking
Ghana Media Advocacy Programme (G-MAP), a child oriented non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on the media to assist the Ghana Police Service in the fight against child trafficking, which has assumed trans-national dimension.
A statement issued by Mr Abdul Malik Jeleel, Executive Director of the NGO, said research indicated that trafficking of children and women was on the rampage in Sub Saharan Africa.
“Trafficking of children is a global issue and there is the need for reliable data on the crime for analyses and plans for counter measures to solve the problem,” the statement said.
It commended the Government and its development partners like United Nations Children Fund for supporting the Anti-human Trafficking Unit of the Police Service to strengthen the Criminal Justice response system.
It reminded the public that the UN Charter on human rights sought to abolish slave trade, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
G-MAP called for concerted action by human right actors, civil society and the media to help the Police to eliminate the problem.
The statement cited child trafficking, especially girls from remote areas to the urban centre, which resulted in child labour and sexual exploitation.
It noted that boys were often trafficked from settlements along the coastal belt and engaged in fishing, while girls served as domestic house helps, which contravenes the Children’s Act (1998) and the Human Trafficking Act (694).
A research conducted by G-MAP in 2007 indicated that 68.7 per cent of people living in the urban centres in Ghana were ignorant that engagement of domestic house helps contravened the law and called for public education on the Children’s Act as well as the Human Trafficking Act.
It said G-MAP would collaborate with the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, the Anti-human Trafficking Unit and the Global Youth Action Network, an NGO, to build and strengthen the capacities of prosecutors, crime journalists and social researchers in the fight against human trafficking.
Source: GNA