Government committed to curbing human trafficking – Minister
Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister for the Interior, has stated that government remained obliged to ensure the complete elimination of human trafficking in the country.
He said although over the past few years Ghana had not performed creditable in the fight against human trafficking, government would ensure that through collaborative effort with stakeholders the issue would be curbed.
He made the observation during a visit, to the Madina Social Welfare together with the Minister of Gender to inspect the state of the facility, as well as inspect the reconstruction work of a portion of the fence wall, which was destroyed by the rains.
Mr Dery said for the past three years, the United States has put Ghana on the tier three watch list, indicating that Ghana had not performed creditable on human trafficking based on the indicators they used, and could be sanctioned if the trend was not reversed in three years.
He said as part of efforts to tackle human trafficking, the Ministry together with the Gender Ministry and SG-SSB Bank had been able to reconstruct the fence well and provided a poly tank for storage of water.
He, however, noted that, the American Embassy had also promised to renovate the two dormitory blocks, expressing the hope that once they had been able to complete the wall and provided the water tank storage tank, they would come and do their part.
“The welfare of our people especially children is very much important to us, and government is working hard to ensure that the basic things that needs to be done are done and at the right time.”
Madam Otiko Djaba, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said for the past two years there were no children at the home, because one of the major problems was the broken wall and water supply, but now both issues had been resolved.
“The mandate of this place is to ensure human trafficking victims are housed, but we have observed that some street children ranging from the ages of 10 and 16 who were rescued by the police from the streets are being housed here”.
This, she said, was a very worrying trend and her Ministry would ensure to engage the social welfare to make sure to put measures in place to tackle the issue of street children.
“We will organise a data base to find out the total number of children on the street, find out where their parents are, and send them back home.”
Madam Djaba appealed to parents to understand the need to love their children and take proper care of them to accept the conditions in which they found themselves at home, since the home would always be home.
“Poverty is no excuse for abuse of yourself as a child or an adult”, she noted.
Source: GNA