Nkwanta police rescue 3 trafficked children

THE police in Nkwanta have rescued three children trafficked from Bator in the Oti region to work as fish-hands in a village called Lakpor in Nkwanta North.

The children, one girl and two boys, aged 10 and below, were rescued during a night operation.

“I have been working with papa for one year. I paddle the boat as one of the daily routines,” the youngest child aged 10, said to Joy News.

The identities of the traffickers are yet to be made public, but the police explained that 17 armed men and three detectives were on board to help rescue the children.

The International Justice Mission, which has been at the forefront fighting child trafficking, partnered the police in the raid.

The rescued children are currently with a privately owned shelter and will be receiving psychological assistance to help them deal with the situation.

The police are also working to reunite the children with their respective families. But for some families who willingly gave out their children, they will have to face the full rigours of the law, the police said.

Child workers

According to figures from IJM, findings from the distinct yet complementary studies in 2013 and 2015 reveal that the majority of children working in Lake Volta’s fishing industry are 10 years old or younger.

This shows that the majority of children are too young to legally conduct the hazardous tasks inherent in many aspects of the fishing industry.

Although the 2013 operational assessment overwhelmingly found boys working on Lake Volta (99.3% of children on the southern region of the lake were boys), the 2015 study found that girls also work in—and are trafficked into—the fishing industry.

The findings demonstrated that girls have different roles in the fishing industry, completing most tasks somewhere onshore or further inland instead of on the lake where the 2013 assessment occurs.

The 2015 study also revealed that both boys and girls have physically demanding, and sometimes hazardous, roles in Lake Volta’s fishing industry.

49,000 children

Multiple studies from 2003 to 2014 have documented children’s involvement in various aspects of the fishing industry throughout Ghana.

In 2003, the Ghana Child Labor Survey Report—published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)—found that over 49,000 children were involved in the fishing industry in Ghana, with many being disproportionately young or underage to legally perform tasks in the fishing industry (which are deemed to be hazardous under the law).

Indeed, 25% of the children were 5‐9 years of age; 41% were 10‐14 years of age, and 34% were 15‐17 years of age.

However, the study did not specify the number of children working within Lake Volta’s fishing industry or how many of these children had been trafficked.