IOM Accra Partners with Miss Ghana 2009 to Rescue Trafficked Children and Increase Awareness on Counter-Trafficking.

The IOM Mission in Ghana, in collaboration with Miss Ghana 2009, has embarked on a sensitization and educational campaign programme to address communities on the Volta Lake about the pitfalls of human trafficking, especially child trafficking.

Mimi Areme, Miss Ghana 2009, on learning about IOM's project for trafficked children, approached the project manager and volunteered to team up with the Organization to support the campaign against child trafficking in Ghana as part of something she is passionate about.

After spending a week last November on one of the islands in Kete Krachi, she remarked, "When I look into the eyes of these children, all I see is pain and torture.  I promised myself to do all I could during my reign to make a difference in the lives of these children.  I will continue the fight against trafficking in Ghana."

Since 2002, IOM has rescued, rehabilitated, reunited and reintegrated 684 children who were trafficked to work with fishermen.  The children were sold for little money by impoverished parents who often held the belief that the children would be adequately fed, educated and taught a useful trade.

Trafficking of children along the Volta Lake is a phenomenon which has been practiced since the creation of the lake.  Children between the ages of 5 and 15 years are given out by their parents and grandparents to work for fishermen in exchange for money.  The fishermen pay between 20 and 100 Ghana Cedis (USD 15 to 80) to engage the services of these boys and girls in their fishing business. 

The number of years these children were "leased" is agreed upon by the parents and masters.  Normally, the fishermen could engage their services for a period of two to six years. 

Their duties are to dive and disentangle nets, cast-out, set and pull the net or hook, scoop water from and paddle the canoe, among others.  Some eat once a day and are made to work under hazardous conditions for long hours.

Miss Ghana continues to fulfil her promise to the children, and recently teamed up with the IOM team, headed by Dyane Epstein, IOM Ghana's Chief of Mission, and Evan Robbins, a teacher from Metuchen High School in the US state of New Jersey, on a four-day rescue mission from three islands near Kete Krachi.

"It took long hours of negotiations between the IOM team and the fishermen who were keeping the children.  It was not easy to get the fishermen to release the children," recalls Epstein.

Her efforts have resulted in the successful release of trafficked children who were being held under bonded and exploitative labour within fishing communities in Kete-Krachi and Yeji, along the shores of the Volta Lake.

"The most emotional part of the trip was when one of the children identified for rescue was crying to be released but his master's wife was not ready to let him go because she believed that there are some customary rites to be performed before the boy could leave for his village.  The process is not an easy one and strong cultural beliefs are often difficult to break," adds Epstein.

The new partnership has also increased awareness of human trafficking amongst the residents of fishing communities on Volta Lake.

IOM hopes to continue to collaborate with Miss Ghana 2009, to continue to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked children and to give them the opportunity to go back to school and fulfil their dreams.

For more information on this IOM programme and to help rescue and reintegrate trafficked children in Ghana, please click here http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/support-trafficked-children-ghana