Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ACCRA1836
2006-08-09 11:24:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Accra
Cable title:  

COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING IN GHANA: THE YEJI

Tags:  GH KOCI KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL 
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FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001836 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: GH KOCI KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING IN GHANA: THE YEJI
PROJECT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001836

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: GH KOCI KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING IN GHANA: THE YEJI
PROJECT


1. Summary: A February 2006 trip by Pol FSN and
International Organization for Migration (IOM) staff revealed
that IOM's project to combat child trafficking in central
Ghana, funded by the PRM Bureau, has had some successes.
However, the project has also highlighted many challenges in
combating trafficking in Ghana, including the need for
greater sensitization and awareness, economic factors, weak
law enforcement, and the difficulty of reintegrating rescued
children. The Inspector General of Police told PolChief that
enforcing Ghana's 2005 Trafficking in Persons law is
difficult because parliament is ahead of the general
population on the issue. Minister of Women and Children's
Affairs Mahama told the Ambassador that Ghana plans to do
more sensitization before moving forward on prosecutions. End
Summary.

THE YEJI TRAFFICKED CHILDREN PROJECT
--------------


2. The Yeji Trafficked Children Project, run by the
International Organization for Migration (IOM),was launched
in December 2002 with funding from the Department of State's
Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. It is
targeted at an estimated 600 fishermen and 1,000 trafficked
children in eleven fishing villages around the village of
Yeji in Ghana's Brong-Ahafo Region. Since 2002, some 576
children have been rescued and re-integrated with their
families in the Volta and Central Regions, while fishermen
have been supported in adapting to alternative forms of
income generation.


3. Friends of Human Development (FHD),a Ghanaian NGO that
works in partnership with IOM, regularly meets with community
heads and opinion leaders to educate them on the dangers of
trafficking and the penalties imposed by Ghana's trafficking
in persons law, enacted in December 2005. The group's aim is
to convince "masters" to voluntarily give up trafficked
children and accept training in other economic activities
such as cattle rearing, cereal farming and micro-credit
schemes allowing spouses to trade in non-fish products.


4. In February 2006, Political FSN traveled to Yeji with
representatives of IOM to observe IOM efforts to rescue some
fifty trafficked children. IOM successfully rescued thirteen

of over fifty trafficked children who were screened. During
a return trip in March, IOM officers rescued an additional 26
children. Several hundred trafficked children are still
believed to be in communities dotting Lake Volta, an area
that has become one of the most significant destinations in
Ghana for internally trafficked persons.

OBSTACLES TO RESCUING TRAFFICKING VICTIMS
--------------


5. Although Ghana's trafficking in persons (TIP) law is
relatively new, several community leaders and elders in the
Yeji area told Pol FSN and IOM officials that they are
committed to eliminating trafficking. In the village of
Adakrom, for example, the commitment of the chief and his
elders ensured that thirteen out of 35 trafficked children
screened several weeks earlier were rescued. While there is
evidence that awareness of the new TIP law is growing in this
and other communities, many challenges remain in securing
community cooperation in combating trafficking. These
include:

-- POOR AWARENESS: While fishermen in many remote localities
appear genuinely ignorant of the TIP law, Pol FSN found that
others simply ignore the law and the dangers associated with
using trafficked children.

-- ECONOMIC FACTORS: Many fishermen told Pol FSN their
priority is getting a return on the huge investments they
have made in procuring the trafficked children. The
fishermen rely heavily on these children to sustain their
businesses and are discouraged by IOM's decision to reduce
compensation to masters (in the form of micro-credit support
for income substitution) from 1.2 million cedis (USD 132) to
500,000 cedis per year (USD 55). In the village of Dasikope,
where ten trafficked children were screened by Friends of
Human Development and IOM for possible rescue, many of the
masters appeared visibly old and weak. Although they had
agreed to participate in the rescue project, they ultimately
backed out because they feared their fishing operations would
not survive without the children.

-- MISINFORMATION: Agents of some masters peddle lies that
rescued children are rented out to rich people in the cities
for huge profits. These allegations generate cynicism and

ACCRA 00001836 002 OF 003


sometimes open hostility between NGOs and fishing communities.

-- WEAK LAW ENFORCEMENT: Local police and social welfare
officials complained to Pol FSN and IOM officials about a
lack of resources to implement the TIP law. Many local
anti-trafficking committees, set up by communities to act as
watchdogs, also complained about resource constraints. In
many of these fishing communities, there are no police
stations. Where stations do exist, the officers are often
ignorant of the new trafficking law. In some cases, police
and community leaders simply ignore NGO education and
sensitization efforts due to strong cultural norms that
condone trafficking.

THE DIFFICULTY OF REINTEGRATION
--------------


6. Community leaders and NGOs seemed to enjoy some
cooperation and mutual goodwill in both source and
destination communities. Sensitization programs have made an
impact in both areas, and NGOs have worked hard to counsel
victims and facilitate their return.


7. Nonetheless, there is insufficient attention to
rehabilitating these traumatized children. Many have missed
out on school, have lost their childhood and sometimes have
to return to a class in school where they are much older than
their peers. According to FHD, because of adjustment
problems these children sometimes want to go back to their
lives as trafficking victims. Some of the parents reject
their children for fear of being asked to refund money they
received from traffickers.

GOG ATTENTION TO TRAFFICKING
--------------


8. PolChief recently raised concerns about trafficking in
Yeji with Inspector General of Police Patrick Acheampong and
other senior police officials. The IGP responded that it was
difficult to implement the TIP law and that parliament was
ahead of the general population. There is a need for
significant education about TIP, he said, adding that in the
Yeji area, a large majority of the local population does not
view trafficking as an offense. They believe relatives send
their children to work in fishing villages because of poverty
and that many of these children have more prospects than they
would in their villages, he said.


9. In a July 17 meeting with Minister of Women and Children's
Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama, the Ambassador said that while
passage of the TIP law was important, the GOG must make
progress on enforcement. She said this was the main reason
Ghana remained a Tier 2 ranked country in 2006. Prosecuting
known traffickers in Yeji would send a very positive signal
about GOG seriousness on this issue, she added. Mahama said
the GOG was unhappy about its Tier 2 ranking, but had decided
to do more sensitization work before moving to prosecutions.
Mahama conceded that resource constraints are not a viable
explanation for why police are not making arrests, but argued
that the law may need to be broken down into individual
regulations to facilitate arrests and prosecutions.
Attempting to demonstrate GOG commitment to the issue, Mahama
noted that she chaired a recent ECOWAS workshop in Nigeria on
trafficking and that her ministry actively participated in an
International Labor Organization workshop to develop an
action plan to combat trafficking.


10. Asked by the Ambassador about the status of setting up a
Child Trafficking Board, as stipulated in Ghana's TIP law,
Mahama said the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs
(MOWAC) has put together the membership, has identified a
coordinator, and is discussing a date for inaugurating the
Board. Mahama expects President Kufuor will approve the
inauguration date soon, after which time the Board will be
able to launch a Human Trafficking Fund.

COMMENT
--------------


11. Despite our efforts to encourage prosecutions, GOG
officials clearly see awareness building as a bigger
priority. The Chief Director of MOWAC reinforced this point
in an Embassy Human Rights Roundtable on August 3, arguing
that the GOG needs another year of awareness building before
it makes sense to push for prosecutions. Some NGO contacts
agree with this view, including the head of
counter-trafficking programs for IOM/Ghana. They are
concerned that premature efforts to arrest and prosecute
traffickers in Yeji may alienate the local community and
reduce cooperation for their rescue efforts.

ACCRA 00001836 003 OF 003




12. We will continue to press for arrests and prosecutions,
in addition to encouraging awareness building, in what we
believe needs to be a multi-dimensional approach to combating
TIP in Ghana. Communities need greater sensitization;
district assemblies need to devote more resources to support
civil society on anti-TIP activities; the police need more
training and awareness building; the media could do more to
highlight the progress of rescued children; rescued children
who do well should be assisted and held up as role models in
their source and destination communities; economic support is
needed for the parents of trafficked children to prevent
recurrence. End Comment.
BRIDGEWATER