The leadership of the National Union of Ghana Students has charged government to work bring to book all persons involved in the act of child trafficking.
NUGS argue that aside it being against the human rights and dignity of children it prevents them from enjoying their fundamental right of education which the Union believe is essential to the development of human resources.
A statement signed by the Press Secretary Kobby Marfo and the President Richmond Asare Tinkaro asserted that “the Union is committed in safeguarding the interest of young children of school going age to receive quality education in promoting education and development in Ghana.”
The call from NUGS follows the revelations from a documentary done by CNN which claimed that close to 20, 000 school going Ghanaian children are enslaved and forced to work in the fishing industry.
The content of the documentary titled, “Troubled Waters” have been challenged by government with a sequel ordered to tell the story from the government perspective on the efforts made to tackle the problem.
NUGS has, therefore, appealed to “government and all other stakeholders to intervene in the situation on the Volta Lake and call for the arrest, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into forced or voluntary labour.”
Below is the full detail of the press release.
For Immediate Release*
Monday, March 4, 2019
NUGS CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD SLAVERY ON GHANA’S VOLTA LAKE
The attention of the National Union of Ghana Students has been brought to a documentary that was telecasted on the American international broadcaster, CNN with the heading CNN Exposes Child Slavery on Ghana’s Lake Volta and a title, Troubled Waters.
The documentary exposed the plight of children of school going age being
exploited in a manner akin to slaves in their own Motherland.
It is sad to know, as per the documentary, in Ghana, 20,000 children
work as slaves in the fishing industry. This fact is degrading and does
not fit the current state of education in the country. We call on the
Ministry of Gender and Social Protection to investigate the situation
generally and the numbers coming up.
NUGS is committed in helping in this regard. Fishing is a dangerous work unfit for a child.
Trafficking of children into forced labor is illegal in Ghana. The
United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women and Children, is the main international legal
framework to combat trafficking, with the objective of protecting and
assisting victims of human trafficking with full respect for their human
rights. Indeed, the laws of Ghana promise adequate protection for
children from forced labor and trafficking. The Constitution of the
Republic of Ghana 1992 (CRG) requires that Parliament enact laws that
protect children against exposure to physical and moral hazards and work
that adversely affects their development. The Ghanaian HTA prohibits
human trafficking into, within, and through Ghana; secures the
government’s commitment to provide for the care and rehabilitation of
trafficked persons; and prohibits the use of trafficked persons in labor
situations the penalty for which, is imprisonment for a term of no less
than five years. Under the statute, a person who provides another
person for purposes of trafficking commits an offense even when the
provider is a parent.
NUGS therefore calls on the government and all other stakeholders to
intervene in the situation on the Volta Lake and call for the arrest,
prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into
forced or voluntary labour.
The Union is committed in safeguarding the interest of young children of
school going age to receive quality education in promoting education
and development in Ghana.
Signed
Kobby Otchere Marfo
Press & Information Secretary, NUGS
0240852651
Tinkaro Asare Osei
President, NUGS
0543253243
