The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP) has said that anybody involved in the trafficking of foreign children to beg on the streets would be arrested and prosecuted.
According to preliminary ministry investigations, foreign youngsters begging on the streets of Accra were victims of organized trafficking syndicates, who were transported to the capital specifically to beg and pass over the money to their traffickers.
In an interview on the occasion of the opening of the newly rebuilt Human Trafficking Secretariat (HTS) and Trauma Informed Care Centre in Accra last Saturday, the sector's Deputy Minister, Lariba Abdul, confirmed this."We are still conducting inquiries and are aware of the situation." We'd swoop in and prosecute the culprits of this crime very quickly," she declared.
Human smuggling
Human trafficking, according to Hajia Abudu, is always on the rise, with the country serving as a receiving, transit, and destination country for victims.
With the implementation of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 Act 694, aimed at the prevention, reduction, and punishment of human trafficking offenses and their connected problems, significant progress had been accomplished in the country, she noted.
She also highlighted that, with the help of partners and NGOs, the ministry rescued a total of 842 trafficking victims in the previous year, with 812 of them reuniting with their family.
Since their beginning, the adult and children shelters have served 178 adult female victims and 98 youngsters, respectively.
"We're also renovating a victim transit shelter in Aflao to help with border rescues and interceptions," Hajia Abudu said, adding that the center may be reached at any time on toll-free lines 0800 800 800 and 0800 900 900.
Project
The refurbishment of the HTS was part of a cooperative effort by the ministry, the European Union (EU), the French Embassy, and Expertise France to strengthen the battle against human trafficking in the Gulf of Guinea, according to Dr Afisah Zakariah, the MOGCSP's Chief Director.
She said the programme, which covered Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, aimed to assist institutional improvement, capacity building, efficient law enforcement, proper victim protection, and regional collaboration in these countries.
The center also aimed to aid in the battle against human trafficking in the Gulf of Guinea countries, as well as to offer sufficient care for victims in the region.
"Comprehensive care for victims is one of our top priorities," Dr. Zakariah explained, "and this will complement the psychosocial requirements of victims by delivering counselling services, walk-in services, and strengthening our monitoring services on the vocational skills activities performed for victims."
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on assistance for the Human Trafficking Fund was signed during the event between the ministry and the project implementers, Expertise France.
Human trafficking, according to EU Ambassador to Ghana Irchad Razaaly, is a global scourge that involves multinational criminal organizations and generates roughly 30 billion euros every year.According to statistics, about 2.5 million individuals are trafficked each year, the majority of them are women and children.
Jérémie Pellet, the Director-General of Competence France, described the organization as "the French agency for foreign technical expertise, working as French help in cooperation and development strategy."
Expertise France received 18 million euros in financing from the European Union and France in 2019 for the implementation of a regional initiative to help the fight against human trafficking in six Gulf of Guinea nations over a four-year period, he added.