In today’s edition, two stories on the same subject have appeared. While one is local, the other has a trans-border element, which makes it more serious.
Child trafficking has attracted the attention of both governments and international organisations in the past few years. Unfortunately, various interventions applied to douse it have been unable to achieve this objective.
There is no gainsaying that poverty occupies the root of this social anomaly as parents agree to let go their children into modern slavery so monies accrued thereof will help in managing homes.
It does not look like so far there is light at the end of the tunnel in the war if there is one at all against this new form of slavery.
We do not want to sound pessimistic about the fate of the war against child trafficking, suffice it to point out however that when an international dimension rears its ahead in the anomaly, there should be justified concern.
The Northern Regional Police Command is investigating the circumstances in which twelve kids were being trafficked to the South from that part of the country, is the thrust of one of the stories which prompted this commentary.
We are unable to fathom how the traffickers managed to get the kids to follow them on the blind side of their parents.
The suspicion that their parents gave the nod for the dirty transaction to go ahead adds to the regrettable challenge.
In an age and political administration where education is no longer out of the reach of many parents courtesy of the free SHS and other interventions, we are pained to think that children can nonetheless be denied this basic opportunity.
The international dimension which human trafficking has taken with girls being brought from Nigeria as contained in another story in this edition is indicative of the mutation the anomaly has undergone in recent times.
With a two-pronged dimension to the anomaly, there is no doubt that fighting human trafficking calls for a sub-regional approach.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) definitely has a role to play in this response lest this segment of human trafficking becomes more sophisticated and beyond management.
Triggering a sub-regional conversation as a way of enlightening people, especially parents about the canker of human trafficking would be a step in the appropriate direction under the prevailing circumstances.
Human trafficking does not differ much from slavery in modern times, especially when the persons being trafficked are unaware about what lies ahead after being presented with glamorous pictures of their final destinations.
Human trafficking, especially child trafficking must be confronted head-on.