Judiciary urged to enforce laws to end child trafficking

Dr Peter Ndowie, the Director of the Pan African Organisation in Ghana, has urged the judiciary to impose stiffer punishement on child trfficking offenders.

This was the way to go to provide protection for children.

He invited the government of Ghana to join hands with neighbouring countries in the response against child- trafficking in Africa to enhance the welfare and wellbeing of children.

Dr Ndowie said this during a community sensitisation forum on ending child-trafficking and early child and forced marriages at Tatale in the Tatale/Sanguli District of the Northern Region.

He appealed to government to improve on its child rights records in the country by protecting them from the perpetrators.

He advised the community members to support government with information on perpetrators of the crime against children to create the necessary awareness on child-trafficking, to halt rising cases of the phenomenon.

Mr Simon Kuwella Libalgma, the Assistant Director of Social Welfare at the Tatale-Sanguli District, noted that child trafficking and early and forced child marriages mostly affected the rights of children and their development.

He proposed a stakeholder campaign and sensitisation in rural communities to canvas and end child trafficking and early child marriage phenomenon adding that child-trafficking could have physical, emotional and psychological effects on victims.

Mr Libalgma urged members of the public to report child trafficking and forced and early marriage issues to authority’s in-charge for necessary action.

Tatale is a border town and is only four kilometres from neighbouring Togo.

The people in Tatale and the connecting towns in Togo speak the same Bassare language and it is therefore easy to engage in the practice for both ends.

While some of the children are allegedly trafficked from Togo to Ghana to engage in menial jobs, those from Ghana to Togo are said to be engaged in prostitution, fishing among other jobs.