According to the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), 13 convictions for human trafficking were secured in 2021, a substantial increase from 2017, when only four convictions were reported.
The 32 instances that were prosecuted and included 37 people resulted in the 13 convictions, which included nine for child labour and ten for other connected offences.
At an advanced training and capacity-building workshop for law enforcement officers on combating human trafficking and irregular migration, the MoGCSP's Chief Director, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, announced this information and added that 831 victims were rescued from human trafficking in the previous year.
According to her, 13 people were charged with human trafficking offences and sentenced to between five and seven years in prison, while 14 people were accused of and found guilty of engaging in child labour exploitation during the reporting period.
Speaking on behalf of interim MoGCSP Minister Cecilia Dapaah, Dr. Zakariah praised law enforcement officials for their outstanding efforts.
the workspace
The four-day workshop, which was organised with Expertise France's assistance and European Union funding, aims to better prepare law enforcement officers who have already received basic training to handle complex cases and to have a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding trafficking in all its forms in order to prevent the menace.
Participants come from the MoGCSP, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Revenue Authority's Customs Division, the Ghana Police Service, and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Dr. Zakariah stated that despite the government's significant efforts to combat human trafficking, there were still a sizable number of cases of trafficking in the nation, and that the ministry might never be aware of the precise numbers due to the murky nature of the trafficking industry.
Ghanaian migrants
Isaac Luortey, the GIS's deputy commissioner for operations, claimed that the majority of those trafficked into the nation were from the Sahel and were typically between the ages of 15 and 30.
He claimed that they were often brought here in large numbers during the dry season to labour in any menial capacity, and that after that time, some of them went to their home countries while others stayed.
Speaking on behalf of Kwame Asuah Takyi, the Comptroller-General of the GIS, Mr. Luortey said that human trafficking, the second-largest criminal industry in the world, harmed the most vulnerable members of society, undermined the rule of law, encouraged gender inequality, and posed a threat to international security.
The Director-General of EOCO, Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, revealed that among other human trafficking cases, her office was seriously looking into cases involving some medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, Department of Social Welfare employees, and others who were allegedly involved in child stealing.
Serge Akpalou, the project manager for Expertise France, stated that the organisation had started a series of fundamental training sessions across the nation with the human trafficking secretariat to increase the capacity of law enforcement agencies to identify, look into, prosecute, and work together on issues related to irregular migration and human trafficking.
blogpay
