Human trafficking in Ghana

[1] In 2009, Ghanaian boys and girls were subjected to conditions of forced labor within the country in fishing, domestic servitude, street hawking, begging, portering, and agriculture.

Uninformed parents may not have understood that by cooperating with trafficking offenders, they may expose their children to bonded placement, coercion, or outright sale.

Women and girls from China, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso were subjected to forced prostitution after arriving in Ghana.

Trafficking victims endured extremes of harsh treatment, including long hours, debt bondage, lack of pay, physical risks, and sexual abuse.

[1] In August 2009, the president appointed new members to the Human Trafficking Management Board, which had been disbanded when the previous government left office in January 2009.

In July 2009, the Ghanaian parliament passed a law amending the definition of trafficking to give the HTA uniformity with the language of the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

[1] In January 2010, the Agona Swedru Circuit Court convicted a Ghanaian woman for enslaving two boys, ages six and eight, from the Central Region to fish on Lake Volta.

The government joined with neighboring countries, as well as international organizations and foreign embassies, to prosecute transnational cases, most recently in a successful bid to break up a trafficking and prostitution ring that sent at least 50 Ghanaian women to Russia for the sex trade.

According to the AHTU, victims received protective support during and after trials, and prosecutors took their statements behind closed doors to ensure their safety and conceal their identity.

The government sustained partnerships with local and international NGOs to rescue and rehabilitate forced child laborers in fishing or mining during the reporting period.

The Ghana Immigration Service maintained a task force responsible for patrolling the borders and ports to expose crimes related to human trafficking.