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Ghana
Philip Otoo was nine years old when his parents sent him to live with his older sister and her husband in the fishing village of Akosombo. The boy had been promised a place in school and a chance to better his life. Instead, he was forced to work for eight years, first as a houseboy and then as a fisherman. He recalled: ‘I was very young then and I didn’t know what was happening.’ When Philip returned without a catch, he was beaten and refused food for the rest of the day.
The fishing nets were often torn. Philip said: ‘It is very difficult to go fishing with a torn net because, when it gets stuck under the sea, you have to dive deeper to remove it.’ Philip said some of his friends died trying to remove nets from the seabed.
Philip’s parents had trusted that their son would be in safe hands. But on hearing stories about the plight of Ghana’s child fishermen, they eventually paid their son a visit. They were shocked by what they saw and managed to secure Philip’s release.
Rescued and living with his parents, Philip, now aged 17, finally started his primary education.
This story is typical of thousands of children in Ghana today who are being forced to work under brutal conditions as labourers, miners, domestic servants and sex workers.
Many of the children are mistreated by their employers. Girls are often sexually abused or forced into prostitution. Some children are shipped overseas and never seen again.
Attempting to tackle this horrific industry is the Centre for Initiative Against Human Trafficking (CIAHT), which has set up a project called ‘Stop Child Trafficking: It is a Crime’ The project, which is supported by USPG, alerts rural families to the dangers of trafficking and helps to rehabilitate children who have escaped from their abusive employers.
Giving the project its full backing is the Anglican Church in the Ghanaian diocese of Tamale. The Bishop explained: ‘Human trafficking, especially child trafficking, is now a common practice in northern Ghana. This is due to poor education, a lack of employment opportunities and the annual cycle of hunger, commonly called the ‘lean’ season. These factors force the youth to migrate to unknown places looking for non-existent jobs. In doing so, some of them get trapped and fall into bad hands.’
Abdulai Danaah, of CIAHT, said: ‘Child trafficking is an age-old phenomenon – now operating in over 80 countries – yet structures put in place to combat it are woefully inadequate. However, we can break the chain by intercepting the vulnerable before they get caught.’
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