On July 30, the world observes the International Day Against Trafficking in Humans, a critical occasion to reflect on the pervasive and criminal practice of human trafficking. This year’s theme, “Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking,” highlights the urgent need to focus on the protection of children from this crime that involves organized networks of people using opaque operations.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) provides a foundational, legally binding definition of human trafficking. This comprehensive definition aims to foster uniformity in national legislative approaches, thereby enhancing international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses. The Convention defines “Trafficking in persons” as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs”. To provide context clarity, it further emphasizes the irrelevance of consent given by trafficked victims as justification for engaging in the criminal activity and more so, if the victim involved is a child, the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered trafficking even if it does not involve the means outlined above.
The Convention’s objective is to harmonize national legal frameworks to support robust international cooperation. By establishing common criminal offenses and facilitating joint efforts, nations can more effectively combat trafficking, ensuring that no child is left behind.
This framework aligns with domestic laws and policies in countries such as Ghana, which adopt similar definitions and emphasize the protection of children against trafficking. Whereas trafficking in humans is prohibited for all age categories, this year’s theme is on the child and article (d) of the Convention defines a “Child” as “any person under eighteen years of age” and this is consistent with the definition adopted by domestic laws and policies in Ghana like the Children’s Act. The observance of the International Day Against Trafficking in Humans serves as a poignant reminder of the global commitment to eradicating this grave violation of human rights. Therefore, there is the need for everyone to get involved in pushing the agenda for the elimination of trafficking in persons.
Tracing Historical Efforts
The history of global efforts to combat human trafficking is marked by a continuous struggle to address the severe abuses and violations of fundamental human rights suffered by victims. Beginning from the 1990s, the international community progressively adopted a series of frameworks and conventions aimed at criminalizing human trafficking, protecting victims, and sanctioning perpetrators. These include the Suppression for the White Slave Traffic in 1994, with expanded scope in 1910, Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children in 1921, Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age, and the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Other human rights frameworks included principles that seek to broaden the scope of fight against human trafficking and these included the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990), and the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime with its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000). Also known as the Palermo Protocol, it is a cornerstone of international anti-trafficking efforts, which outlines comprehensive measures to prevent, protect, and prosecute.
The Necessity of Global Collaboration: Ghana’s Legislative and Policy Responses
Human trafficking is a transnational and organized crime that necessitates global collaboration to effectively identify, prevent, and combat it. Such collaboration is essential for protecting victims, providing support and rehabilitation, and punishing perpetrators to deter others from engaging in this criminal enterprise. As a sovereign nation, Ghana has participated in the global fight against human trafficking by taking significant legislative and policy steps. First, it is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, commonly known as the Palermo Protocol. Second, it has enacted different domestics laws and established state institutions to collaborate with other international agencies and border patrol teams to combat the menace of trafficking in humans.
Some of the legislative frameworks include the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) to protect children from trafficking and exploitation; the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) to prohibit forced labour and regulate employment of young people and establish worker rights; the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573) to strengthen border patrols, identification and combating of trafficking, and the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732) to prevent domestic abuse as it relates to trafficking situations. The legal frameworks have led to the establishment of institutions like the Human Trafficking Secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service and inter-agency collaboration that involve different government agencies, non-governmental organisations and international organisations to fight against trafficking.
With these foundational interventions, Ghana is well placed to foster collaboration with other countries and bilateral/multilateral bodies like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) among others to fight this well-organized crime which involves several networks that seek to disguise its modus operandi. The question is: how well have we been able to fight this crime?
A persisting challenge
Despite extensive global efforts through legislation and enforcement, the International Organization for Migration (IOM, 2024) reports that one in three victims of trafficking in persons is a child. This statistic is particularly alarming considering the inherent vulnerability of children, who remain the weakest link in the trafficking enterprise due to their limited capacity to make decisions affecting their well-being. It is well-established that numerous factors contribute to trafficking situations, including economic, social, environmental, and political conditions. These factors often act collectively or individually to foster environments conducive to exploitation. Addressing such complex and multifaceted issues necessitates multi-sectorial and inter-agency collaboration to effectively combat human trafficking.
In the context of Ghana, the U.S. State Department Report on Trafficking in Persons (2023) highlights that Ghana has not yet met the minimum standards required to eliminate human trafficking, despite showing improvements compared to previous years. The report underscores several critical gaps in Ghana’s anti-trafficking efforts:
- fewer identification of trafficking victims and continuation of 2017 ban on labor migration to Gulf states, thus increasing the vulnerability to trafficking.
- no evidence showing fraudulent labour recruiters have been held accountable despite reports of fraudulent labor recruiters exploiting Ghanaian victims abroad
- failure to adequately address complicity in trafficking crimes, and
- failure to amend the anti-trafficking act regulations to remove the option of a fine in lieu of imprisonment in cases where the trafficker was a parent or guardian of a child victim.
Given the identified gaps, Ghana’s anti-trafficking efforts remain at Tier 2, according to the U.S. State Department’s classification. This status underscores the urgency for collaborative efforts involving various stakeholders, including civil society, community leaders, individuals, scholars, government entities, and multilateral institutions like the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Civil society organizations and community leaders can play a pivotal role in raising awareness about human trafficking due to their grassroots presences. Academics and researchers can contribute by conducting studies that provide deeper insights into the patterns, causes, and consequences of human trafficking to inform evidence-based policies and interventions. Individuals can create awareness and report cases or suspected cases of trafficking from the points of origin, transit, and destination while Government agencies continue to enhance legislative frameworks, strengthen law enforcement, and improve victim support services.
Author: Nurokinan Chimbar
Development Consultant
Email: chimbar@methodsconsult.org