Ministry worry about increase in child trafficking

Mr. George Yaw Ankamah, Deputy Director of the Department of Children of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, has expressed concern about the increasing rate of child trafficking in the country, especially in coastal areas.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he said majority of trafficked children ended up losing their lives and others suffered permanent disfigurement.

He said most parents were not aware that child trafficking was a criminal offence for which a perpetrator could be prosecuted and if convicted could pay a fine or five years imprisonment.

Mr Ankamah said child inspection sub-committees had been set up in all districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region to curtail all forms of child abuse and that Techiman had been identified as a distribution point for human trafficking.

He said the situation becomes worse during vacation of schools when parents allow their young ones to work for money to pay their school fees when school reopens.

Mr. Ankamah said the traffickers often deceived the children’s parents to believe they would give the children better living conditions and  transferred them to other people who would maltreat and let them work above their limits.

He said the Department, in collaboration with other agencies responsible for child rights, was working to ensure the demise of child trafficking in the country and that all acts and polices protecting children were enforced.

Source: GNA