Mr Asante-Apeatu,IGP
The police have been urged to look in the direction of transnational human trafficking in the case of the kidnapping of the three young girls in the Western Region.
To this end, SEWA Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Ghana with the aim to fight the abuse and neglect of children, young people and women, especially, in the area of transnational human trafficking has asked the police administration to get the anti-human tracking unit at its headquarters into the picture to assist with the investigation.
Speaking to the “Ghanaian Times” in the wake of the trending news of the kidnapping of the three young girls, Jones Owusu Yeboah, Chief Executive Officer of SEWA Foundation, the narration of the abduction seemed to be clearly pointing in the direction of transnational human trafficking.
Human trafficking in transnational sense, according to him, was the process in which people were taken from their country of origin and transported to a destination in a foreign country where they were exploited for the purpose of forced labour, prostitution, domestic servitude and other forms of exploitation.
He said the prevalence of the practice was difficult to estimate, however its increasing growth in numbers compelled the ECOWAS in December 2001 to produce, a plan of action against trafficking which included procedures with traffickers and their victims.
Mr. Yeboah said during the press conference by the Western Regional Police Command to shed light on the abduction, the cultural criminological anaylsis of traffickers operation was represented in the statements, adding that many victims of human trafficking were trafficked by abduction.
He said many victims of human trafficking were either abducted or coerced through friendship by the agents and sold into some form of modern slavery, saying “the young girls were usually prompted through the use of misleading friendship or relationship.
Mr. Yeboah said the traffickers enter into a romantic relationship with the young girls for the purpose of trafficking them, adding that after the trafficker developed the trust and a seemingly solid relationship, the trafficker would them initiate a weekend vacation only to deceive them into trafficking.
He asked the youth to be also wary of false jobs advertisements such as nanny, waitress, and a model in a foreign country as the recruiters, most often human traffic agents on arrival of the applicants in the foreign land would force them into work conditions vastly different form the job they applied for and withhold their documentation using variety of coercive methods, including physical abuse to keep the victim in their control.
Mr. Yeboah said the most sad part of the trafficking was when families faced with financial difficulties would “sell” a child for money, saying, “these parents are usually promised that their children will be taken care of and given a better life, however, these children could be sold to traffickers by the agents.”
He pleaded with the police to throw all their intelligence network in unraveling the truth about the three abducted young girls since many of the human traffickers were associated with international criminal organisation which were highly clandestine and mobile, making it difficult for enforcement agencies to detect, arrest and prosecute them.
Mr. Yeboah said at this point the police also need to be extra vigilant and cautious as victims faced with threats of physical violence might be reluctant to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI
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