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Over ninety percent of suspected human traffickers arrested in Ghana and 95 per cent of rescued survivors in public shelters are Nigerians, Ghanaian government has said.
This was disclosed by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Ghana Police Service at a five-day advanced training on reporting human trafficking organised in Accra by Expertise France, a non-governmental organisation.
The training brought together 20 journalists, 10 each from Nigeria and Ghana, to equip them with skills to do better human trafficking stories that reflect realities in the Gulf of Guinea region and could bring about positive changes.
Deputy Director, Human Trafficking unit of the Minsitry, Mrs. Sena Owusu-Gibson, said there was need for journalists in the region to amplify, help identify and re-integrate survivors of human trafficking.
Owusu-Gibson urged journalists to avoid re-victimisation of trafficking survivors, adding that their identities and photographs should not be exposed to avoid stigmatisation.
She lamented that human trafficking has remained a menace in Africa, despite global efforts to root it out, commending the organisers for the initiative which would inspire participants to put forward reports that would bring about change.
Also, the Director, Anti-Human Trafficking department of Ghana Police, CSP Mike Baah, said over 90 percent of suspected traffickers arrested in the country were Nigerians, noting that the kingpins bring in their victims and force them into prostitution and other forms of indecent and exploitative jobs.
He narrated a case of a 16-year-old girl forced to sleep with an average of 13 men daily, who later got pregnant and was forced to have an abortion that eventually left her with complications.
Baah acknowledged efforts of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana as well as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in combating the scourge, adding that his department has contacted them on several occasions to help in cracking some cases.
Training facilitator, Charles Autheman, emphasised the need for regional journalists to spotlight human trafficking for the purpose of forced labour which usually benefits multinational firms.
He noted that companies who rely on fish, cocoa, coffee, cotton, gold, lithium and other natural resources for their products inadvertently encourage human trafficking for the purpose of forced labour and must begin to interrogate their suppliers to ensure their actions are not at variance with labour laws and protocols.
NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, urged journalists to collaborate more across borders on reporting human trafficking so that the African continent would show more commitment towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of eliminating all forms of indecent work, child and forced labour by 2030.