Child trafficking: an injustice of the uneducated...

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as an act of recruiting, transporting, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion, or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. The internal trafficking of children is one of the biggest challenges in Ghana. Many children are trafficked from their home villages to work long hours, in tough conditions, mainly in the fishing industry. Lake Volta, one of the worlds largest artificial lakes has provided dependability for a number of fishermen and their families. Work in Ghana is scarce; unemployment is widespread and roughly 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line. For this reason, Joe Rispoli, Head of the Counter-Trafficking Department of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Ghana says many parents dont now the value of education; for them, its more immediately valuable for their children to learn how to fish. Therefore, child trafficking in Ghana is not a matter of cruelty; it is a cause of a lack of knowledge. Many Ghanaians simply do not realize that it is not acceptable for children to be away from their parents and school. Whats more, parents do not realise the danger of this life of slavery. Many children do not survive and those that do often face difficult futures with psychological problems, substance abuse and prostitution. An intervention by the IOM, made fisherman, who used to visit parents and ask if their children could help them with their work, realise that it is wrong for children to work like adults. Now we have understood that this is wrong, and that kids should be with their parents and in school Benjamin Tornye, a fisherman for 15 years, who is now working to stop child trafficking in Ghana, through educating parents and their children. Although there are constantly steps being taken to end human trafficking in Ghana, for example the Human Trafficking Act, Act 694 of 2005 and the Ghana Police Service has an Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, the greatest challenge will be getting through to those involved through education. However, with so many of them uneducated, the influence of international communities such as YOUTH DEVELOPMENT GHANA is vital. Onsse Hassan, YDG Junior Journalist.