The leadership of the National Union of Ghana Students has charged government to bring to book all persons involved in the act of child trafficking.
NUGS argued that aside it being against the human rights and dignity of children, it prevents them from enjoying their fundamental right of education which the Union believes is essential to the development of human resources.
NUGS in a statement signed by the Press Secretary, Kobby Marfo and the President, Richmond Asare Tinkaro asserted that “the Union is committed in safeguarding the interest of young children of school going age to receive quality education in promoting education and development in Ghana.”
The call from NUGS follows the revelations from a documentary done by CNN which claimed that close to 20, 000 school going Ghanaian children are enslaved and forced to work in the fishing industry.
The content of the documentary titled, “Troubled Waters” have been challenged by government with a sequel ordered to tell the story from the government perspective on the efforts made to tackle the problem.
NUGS has, therefore, appealed to “government and all other stakeholders to intervene in the situation on the Volta Lake and call for the arrest, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into forced or voluntary labour.”
Below is the full detail of the press release
For Immediate Release
Monday, March 4, 2019
NUGS CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD SLAVERY ON GHANA’S VOLTA LAKE
The attention of the National Union of Ghana Students has been brought to a documentary that was telecasted on the American international broadcaster, CNN with the heading CNN Exposes Child Slavery on Ghana’s Lake Volta and a title, Troubled Waters.
The documentary exposed the plight of children of school going age being exploited in a manner akin to slaves in their own Motherland.
It is sad to know, as per the documentary, in Ghana, 20,000 children work as slaves in the fishing industry. This fact is degrading and does not fit the current state of education in the country. We call on the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection to investigate the situation generally and the numbers coming up.
NUGS is committed in helping in this regard. Fishing is a dangerous work unfit for a child.
Trafficking of children into forced labor is illegal in Ghana. The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, is the main international legal framework to combat trafficking, with the objective of protecting and assisting victims of human trafficking with full respect for their human rights. Indeed, the laws of Ghana promise adequate protection for children from forced labor and trafficking. The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana 1992 (CRG) requires that Parliament enact laws that protect children against exposure to physical and moral hazards and work that adversely affects their development. The Ghanaian HTA prohibits human trafficking into, within, and through Ghana; secures the government’s commitment to provide for the care and rehabilitation of trafficked persons; and prohibits the use of trafficked persons in labor situations the penalty for which, is imprisonment for a term of no less than five years. Under the statute, a person who provides another person for purposes of trafficking commits an offense even when the provider is a parent.
NUGS therefore calls on the government and all other stakeholders to intervene in the situation on the Volta Lake and call for the arrest, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into forced or voluntary labour.
The Union is committed in safeguarding the interest of young children of school going age to receive quality education in promoting education and development in Ghana.
Signed
Kobby Otchere Marfo
Press & Information Secretary, NUGS
0240852651
Tinkaro Asare Osei
President, NUGS
0543253243
By: Jonah Eledi/awakenewsonline.com