Freda Prempeh signing the project while Ambassador Diana Acconcia and Serge Akpalou look on.
The European Union, Expertise France and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection have launched an 18 million Euro regional project to support the fight against human trafficking in the West African sub-region.
The beneficiary countries are Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Cote d’ Ivoire and Guinea.
The project, which is dubbed: “Support the fight against Human Trafficking in the states of the Gulf of Guinea”, aims to curb human trafficking.
They are seeking to encourage the countries to get tough on those engaged in the illicit and inhumane business.
At the launch of the project in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Freda Prempeh, said 778 victims of human trafficking were rescued in 2019 alone in Ghana through the efforts of the security agencies and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
She said the police recorded 147 human trafficking-related cases, where 23 of them involving 37 defendants were prosecuted and 15 convicted.
“These strides were as a result of the hard work of the law enforcement officers, development partners and non-governmental organizations and social workers, who are working assiduously to curb human trafficking, but it is still not enough,” she added.
She said there was a pattern of cross-border and irregular migration, human trafficking, child exploitation and other high crimes along the Gulf of Guinea which needed to be tackled head-on.
“Trafficking is multifaceted and covers several situations from debt bondage, exploitation, organized crimes and many more,” she pointed out.
European Union Ambassador Diana Acconcia said with the rise in irregular migration through the Mediterranean route, the number of people affected by human trafficking had increased in that region.
She said the European Union was still committed to the fight against human trafficking.
Presenting an overview, Serge Akpalou, National Project Manager of Expertise France, said the project would last for four years.
He said they were impressed with the efforts in Ghana and the project would give a boost to the fight.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)