Government has allocated some 1.5million Cedis to the human trafficking secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to support the fight against human trafficking and to protect victims of exploitation.
The fund which was made known by the sector minister is to help the ministry ensure protection and empower the vulnerable by achieving its objective of combating human trafficking.
Speaking at the launch of the “2017 UN Day against Trafficking in Person”, Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba also called on stakeholders to help fight human trafficking and its related activities.
According to her, the activity was lucrative for the traffickers and they will therefore be reluctant to stop the trade.
“As a lucrative business, it is currently the second largest trade in the world after drugs. It fetches billions of dollars to those involved in the trade and therefore they will do all in their power to continue the trade. Globally 60% of victims of trafficking are women, but in Africa and Ghana in particular about 70% of victims of trafficking are children.”
Madam Otiko Djaba also added that, she was also seeking cabinet approval to include victims of human trafficking or their care-takers on the LEAP program to further reduce poverty in families where the prevalence of human trafficking is highest.
“Government has taken a number of initiatives to reduce poverty which is one of the root causes of human trafficking. The LEAP program is one of such interventions that work towards supporting extreme poor households with cash grants to reduce extreme poverty. Hence to discourage families from selling off their children at a pittance for exploitation, we are seeking cabinet approval to include the victims on the LEAP.”
On his part, the Director in charge Of Operations at the Ghana Immigration Service, Chief Superintendent Samuel Basintale Amadu said the service had put enough measures in place to move the country from tier two on the UN Watch List to tier one.
“Between May to date the GIS has rescued about 146 females aged between 17 and 37. Most of these victims have already been united with their families. We also have suspects at various stages in the law court. Surveillance is now extreme at our borders and we continue to monitor the unapproved routes these traffickers are now using.”
By: Felicia Osei/citifmonline.com/Ghana