Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey had called for stiffer punishment for human trafficking Offenders.
This, she said would serve as a deterrence to the practice and contribute to the reduction trafficking cases in the country.
The Minister made the call at this years World Day Against Human Trafficking also known as Blue Day which was commemorated in Accra on Wednesday through a Health Walk in the Principal streets of Accra.
“As a country, we must strengthen laws and policies to prevent human trafficking, enhance support services for survivors, promote awareness and education, and foster international cooperation”, the Minister stressed.
She said trafficking in persons is cruel, exploitative and one of the most heinous crimes that can be perpetrated by any person or group of persons against fellow human beings and must be eradicated in our society.
“Trafficking steals the rights of others, the dignity and pride of the individual and therefore we must all be part of protecting each other by being vigilant”, she added.
According the Krowor Member of Parliament, this years’ theme “Leave No One Behind: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges” reaffirms Ghana’s commitment to the global call to action-to leave no one behind in the fight against human trafficking and irregular migration.
She said this calls for stronger cooperation, deeper understanding, and the removal of all barriers that prevent effective victim identification, protection, and justice adding that Ghana celebrates twenty (20) years of the Human Trafficking Act, 694 of 2005 in the fight against human trafficking since Ghana ratified the Palermo Protocol and adopted it to help in the fight against Human Trafficking.
According to UN estimates, at any given time, an estimated 2.5 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery. Men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers both in their own countries and abroad. Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. With over 30 billion dollars in the human trafficking economy globally, perpetrators are doing all in their power to maintain their grip on the trade.
The Minister revealed that Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking adding that recent rise in men trafficked for cyber fraud is alarming coupled with transnational trafficking of foreign migrants.
“Ghanaian women are recruited by unscrupulous fraudulent agencies who entice them with offers of good paying jobs in domestic service or the hospitality industry and they are abused, raped, tortured, disgraced and reduced to nothing. Some lose their dignity and everything they work for in life to traffickers and their exploiters. Many have reported of being deceived, overworked, starved, molested, and/or forced into prostitution sleeping with countless men”, Naa Momo bemoaned.
She therefore called on all and sundry to develop a “ see something say something” attitude to help curb the menace.
Source:www.senaradioonline.com
