CORRUPTION

Interview with Dr. Osei Bonsu Dickson
International Affairs Forum
According to the 2016 Trafficking in Persons
Report, Ghana is a Tier 2 Watch List country,
meaning that the government does not fully
meet the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking in persons. It also failed to provide
evidence of increasing efforts to combat
severe forms of trafficking in the past year. This
notwithstanding, the government has continued
to play a role in curbing the menace. Among its
efforts is the passage of the Human Trafficking
Act, 2005.
In what has been described as a swift response
to the damning 2016 Trafficking in Persons
Report, The Ministry of Gender, Children and
Social Protection is set to train security officers
along the border towns to help curb child
trafficking activities. Civil society also continues
to play its role in curbing the menace of human
trafficking in Ghana through partnerships with
government and other institutions, as well as
self-initiated projects and programs.
What efforts are being made by the
government of Ghana to train law
enforcement to deal with human trafficking?
Do you think these efforts are
adequate?
The recent announcement by the Ministry of
Gender, Children and Social Protection about
the training of security officers in border areas is
among a few of such interventions. The findings
of the 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report indicate
that these training programs are not adequate.
According to the report, “the government did not
provide anti-trafficking training to prosecutors
despite acknowledgment that such training was
needed.”
Can you share your ideas on the measures
that can be put in place to curb human
trafficking in Ghana and other West African
countries?
Information sharing and joint operations with
other West African Countries must be at the top
of the agenda of eliminating human trafficking. If
this is done in addition to realizing the following
recommendations in the 2016 Trafficking in
Persons Report, considerable gains will be made
in curbing the menace of human trafficking:
• Increase funding and support to police and
immigration services for investigative efforts.
• Increase funding to the police and attorney
general prosecutors to prosecute trafficking
offenses(especially internal labor and sex
trafficking of children). This will assist them
in their efforts at convicting and punishing
trafficking offenders.
• Develop and implement systematic
methods of collecting and reporting data
on investigations, prosecutions, victims
identified, and assistance provided.
• Develop and implement systematic
procedures for law enforcement, social
welfare personnel, and labor inspectors to
proactively identify trafficking victims among
vulnerable populations—such as women in
prostitution, migrant workers, and children
working in agriculture, mining, fishing, and
pottering—and refer them to protective
services.
• Provide government funding for the Human
Trafficking Fund.
• Finalize and implement the National Plan of
Action against Trafficking.
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