Central Region has been identified as the root or source of all child and human trafficking activities in the country.
According to the Central Regional Police Command, the region has been identified for being the source where children trafficked to other regions in the country to engage in child labour emanates from.
“This is particularly prevalent in the coastal areas in the region where poverty is rife,” they pointed out.
Addressing the media during a sensitisation workshop on the menace in Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality last Wednesday, the Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Irene Oppong, explained that since children from the coastal communities are good swimmers they are often targeted for child labour.
“Sadly, parents of such children do not hesitate to give out their wards for meagre fees due to poverty,” she bemoaned.
She added that perpetuators also sometimes take the children from poor homes where the families are not able to cater for the children.
ASP Oppong expressed worry about the high rate of menace in the region, adding that 15 cases have so far been recorded in the region this year.
To this effect, she intimated that the Central Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rev Neenyi Ampah Bennin has reactivated the defunct human trafficking unit in Cape Coast to tackle the menace.
“It’s about time the authorities in the region together with the police demonstrated adequate commitment to combating the menace since the region stood to lose millions of children, especially in the coastal areas,” she stated.
She revealed that her outfit was, therefore, intensifying sensitisation amongst the fishing communities to draw their attention to the devastating effect of the act and how criminal it is for anyone to engage in it.
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