The dignitaries with the MoU after the signing ceremony
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has commissioned a new building for the Human Trafficking Secretariat (HTS) and Trauma Informed Care Centre, located in Osu, Accra.
The building, financed with support from the European Union (EU), aims to provide the HTS with an adequate working environment, to strengthen its efficiency in the coordination of actions against human trafficking in Ghana and to provide quality services to victims.
The commissioning is within the framework of the project ‘Support the Fight against Human Trafficking in the states of the Gulf of Guinea’, funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund and implemented in five other countries (Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria, Togo) by Expertise France.
It aims at supporting the authorities and civil society in these countries in the fight against human trafficking in four areas of institutional and operational capacity building of inter-ministerial bodies, law enforcement, victim protection and regional cooperation.
The commissioning of the secretariat and official handing over was followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the parties involved in the project.
Deputy Gender Minister, Hajia Lariba Abudu, said the ministry with its partners have embarked on many community advocacy and engagements to educate the public on the dangers associated with human trafficking.
“In collaboration with our law enforcement officers, social workers and NGOs, Ghana in 2021 rescued 842 victims, gave comprehensive trauma informed care and has reintegrated 812 of them.
Hajia Abudu (middle) with EU officials cutting the tape to commission the new secretariat
“On the 1st of February 2019, the adult shelter was operationalised and 178 adult female victims of trafficking have been cared for, and we are still receiving and caring for victims at the shelter even as at this moment. The children shelter was also fully operationalised in August, 2020 and has cared for 98 child victims,” she added.
She further noted that a total of 108 cases were reported and investigated; 42 cases being sex trafficking, 60 for labour trafficking and six being other related cases that started as human trafficking offences.
“Thirty-four (34) cases were sent to court for prosecution, out of those 22 cases were prosecuted involving 37 defendants and we have gained 17 convictions for the country,” she explained.
General Director of Expertise France, Jérémie Pellet, said the building is a fundamental testimony of the commitments of the government in fighting the menace of human trafficking.
He also pledged the continuous support of the organisation to activities aimed at reducing the incidence of human trafficking.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri