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Support Trafficked Children in Ghana

Background

While most children their age are at school or playing with their friends, trafficked children who work in the fishing industry in Ghana are forced to work under the searing heat of the sun. Bonded into labour due to poverty, these children (some as young as 4 years old) spend their days on Lake Volta – paddling boats, collecting fish, diving under water to disentangle nets, or working as domestic helpers in fishermen's homes. They are not given the opportunity to go to school and are often ill-treated and malnourished.

Since 2002, IOM Ghana has been working to rescue trafficked children from the fishing communities of Yeji and Kete-Krachi in the Brong-Ahafo and Volta regions of Ghana. Through the programme, IOM Ghana's Counter-Trafficking Team has rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities of origin over 700 children.

Activities

Community Outreach

Community outreach programs are organised to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable communities to effectively prevent child trafficking as well as identify, protect, and assist victims of trafficking. IOM organizes community outreach activities in both sending and receiving communities in the Volta, Central, Greater Accra and Brong-Ahafo Regions of Ghana. These outreaches focus on human trafficking as a punishable crime, dangers involved in trafficking children, children's right as outlined in the international and national legislation.

Rescue

The rescue and release of trafficked children means much more than just freeing them from forced labour. To rescue a child is a delicate and sensitive matter. Before the children are rescued and released from bondage, the entire fishing community is sensitized and educated about child trafficking and what harm it causes to the children. Only then negotiations are made with the fishermen for the child's release.

Rehabilitate

Most trafficked children are highly traumatized by their ordeals. After the children have been rescued, they arrive at a secure and child-friendly rehabilitation centre where they spend three months going through medical assessment and treatment in addition to psychosocial therapy and basic education. This important stage enables the child to move toward full recovery and healing..

The team also conducts in-depth interviews and social investigations with every child to discover what forms of abuse s/he suffered while working for fishermen. This enables the clinical psychologist and social worker to know what rehabilitation interventions to design (casework or group work) for use toward their recovery. The children are also prepared for enrolment in school or an apprenticeship, reunification with parents/guardians and provided with school supplies and uniforms.

Reintegrate

After rehabilitation, the children are reunited with their families. The main goal of sending the children back to their parents/guardians is to fulfill one of the basic rights of a child, which is the child's right to grow up in a family environment. Before reuniting the children with their caretakers, however, the team traces their parents and develops case files on them through direct interaction and observation of the general environment over a few months to ensure they are suitable. Children are then reunited with parents/guardians who have been deemed capable of looking after them in a responsible manner. When suitable parents are not located, alternatives are sought.

Continuous Assistance

The primary purpose of reintegration is to nurture and support the child's development in a comfortable environment that is conducive to motivating the child to flourish as a student or apprentice and suitable to fostering the child's growth into an adult. As part of their reintegration, the children are placed in schools or apprenticeship and provided with the required tools and materials. Their progress in the family environment, school and apprenticeship is monitored regularly. In addition, community watchdog committees and surveillance teams are formed to help prevent re-trafficking. Parents of returned children are also given livelihood assistance and training, so they can better support the child's needs.

"In order to provide more sustainable assistance and long-term support to the trafficked children whom we've rescued, rehabilitated, and reintegrated over the past few years, there is the need for caring individuals to sponsor them from afar. This will bring hope for a promising future to these children and prevent them from being re-trafficked in the future."

- Dyane Epstein, COM, IOM Accra

How you can help

This is how you can help a trafficked child as an individual or corporate donor:



Accomplishments

So far, this is what your donations have enabled us to do:

  • 731 trafficked children have been rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated into their respective communities
  • All 731 children have been extensively monitored and provided with targeted follow-up assistance based on their individual needs
  • Over 690 children have been enrolled in school; 20 children have graduated from high school and 10 from various apprenticeships are now supporting themselves
  • 191 reintegrated children are currently benefiting from being sponsored by individual private donors
  • 130 communities and 48,533 community members has been educated and sensitized on trafficking in persons, with particular emphasis on child trafficking, within sending and receiving communities
  • Mentoring and tutoring programs have been established in major sending communities to assist the children to perform better in school
  • 468 parents/guardians of trafficked children benefited from micro-business assistance
  • 50 social workers have been trained on the rehabilitation of child and adult victims of trafficking in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare
  • 83 government officials from the Police, Immigration, Naval and Judicial Services have received technical assistance in terms of capacity-building on human trafficking issues
  • Inter-agency support network has been established and the government's institutional framework enhanced in order to coordinate trafficking issues and to provide continuous protection and support to victims of trafficking in Ghana
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