Drivers participate in programme to reduce child trafficking
About 150 drivers from all the districts in the Central Region have participated in a day’s programme to help reduce cases of child trafficking in the country.
The occasion was also used to present to them an anti-trafficking documentary to be shown in vehicles across the region.
The 28-minute anti-trafficking documentary, had also been produced for the drivers in order for them to show them in their vehicles daily, as part of the campaign.
Statistics
The Director for End Modern Slavery Unit of Engage Now Africa, a non-governmental organisation involved in eradicating modern forms of child slavery and which organised the programme, Mr David Kofi Awusi, said statistics available indicated that 49,000 children still ‘worked’ on the Volta Lake with over 21,000 out of the number trapped in hazardous activities.
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Mr Awusi said over 190,000 people were trapped in modern slavery in Ghana, stressing, “We believe that the first step towards ending modern slavery is through sensitisation and prevention.”
He stated that the law protected children and urged the participants not to allow themselves to be used to perpetuate modern-day slavery activities.
According to him, the goal of Engage Now Africa was to record zero modern slavery and human trafficking activities in Ghana, saying the organisation was committed to its trafficking-free campaign on the road, which entailed training for various stakeholders and the distribution of anti-slavery-branded stickers.
Sensitisation
Mr Awusi noted that the documentary and other programmes by the organisation would help sensitise passengers and Ghanaians in general to the effects of trafficking and empower them to know how to resist, identify and also report cases of trafficking in its various forms to the appropriate authorities.
The Central Regional Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Alhaji Rahiyano Shaubu Artey, thanked Engage Now Africa for the collaboration and said the education had enlightened them about how to deal with such cases if they happened at the lorry stations.
