Police officer appeals to media to help curb child trafficking

Mr Frank Adu-Poku, Deputy Commissioner of Police, has appealed to the media and other stakeholders to take urgent steps on child trafficking issues as the nation hosts the Ghana 2008 football tournament.

Mr Adu-Poku, who is the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department, said perpetrators of child trafficking often took advantage of inter sporting events organised over the world to carry out their operations hence the need to protect children during the event.

"Inter sporting events have become a fertile ground for human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children. We need to fight it to ensure zero tolerance for human trafficking."

He said this when he presented a paper on "Child trafficking- The Global Situation" to journalists attending a two-day workshop at the Senchi.

The workshop under theme "Combating child trafficking in Ghana - the role of the media", brought together journalists from Volta, Eastern, Central, Greater Accra and Western regions.

Mr Adu-Poku described human trafficking as the third income generator on the globe and said the act was a complex one that needed the support of all in combating it.

"If we don't cut the demand the supply will also be there," he said.

He said a look at the routes in West Africa showed that every country was involved and that those trafficked were sent to the mining, fishing and agriculture sectors.

"Human Trafficking is also a big business in Europe. This is because people are anxious to get there hence they are often used as baits," he said.

Mr Adu-Poku said the police did not have shelter and rehabilitation centres and appealed to the human rights activists to go into the provision of such facilities for survivors.

Giving a global situation on human trafficking, Mr Adu-Poku said in 2003, 7,982 prosecutions took place, 2,890 convictions were handed down and in 2004, 6,882 prosecutions were carried out while 3,025 convictions handed down.

He stressed the need to put in more stringent laws to make the act unattractive.