39 TRAFFICKED TEENAGE GIRLS INTERCEPTED (MIRROR, PAGE 39, NOV 20, 2010)

From Tim Dzamboe, Dzodze

The anti-human trafficking desk of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) at Aflao  has intercepted 39 teenage girls being trafficked within the West African sub-region with one from Chinese origin.
The victims were from Togo, Nigeria and Ghana, while six suspected Chinese traffickers and a Ghanaian were being held.
The Aflao Sector Commander of the GIS, Mr Thomas Antong, disclosed this at the closing ceremony of a two-day human trafficking sensitisation workshop organised by the GIS Migration Management Bureau for immigration officers, police, Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS)  and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at  the White Dove Hotel in Dzodze last weekend.
It was organised by the Migration Management Bureau (MMB) of the GIS with funding from the United Nation Children’s and Education Fund (UNICEF).
He said Ghana was rated under the three categories of origin, transit and destination of human trafficking  and that the country was among 161 affected globally with 127  identified as countries of origin, 98 as transit and 137 as destination points.
According to him, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that 2.4 million people were victims of trafficking from 1995 to 2005  and that the United States Department of State had stated that one million children were exploited by  global commercial sex trade every year.
Mr Antong, therefore, said the GIS  at Aflao  was bent on enhancing the skills of officers in anti-human trafficking and fostering collaboration with other stakeholders in order to get tough with traffickers, and added that victims were assured of professional care and referral.
“ The public is being informed that the recruiter, transporter as well as users are liable under the Human Trafficking Act”, he stressed.
He said trafficking required the participation, cooperation and support of the public in order to curb it and called on the Department of Social Welfare, non-governmental organisations, traditional authorities, religious organisations, transporters, market women and schools to get on board in order to protect people.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, the Assistant Director of the MMB of GIS at Aflao, Miss Judith Dzokoto, said human trafficking had become a menace that denied many people their basic rights.
She said the GIS occupied a key position in the trade, especially with respect to their duties at the entry and exit points of the country, and called for the cooperation of every citzen  in the anti-trafficking chain in order to manage the anti-human trafficking desk very well.