Police to clamp down on child trafficking

Gemeni (V/R), June 18, GNA - Deputy Commissioner of Police Patrick Timbilla, has said the security forces would soon carry out an operation along Ghana/Cote d'Ivoire frontier to clampdown on the activities of human traffickers and their collaborators.

He said the exercise would be code named "Operation Bia." Bia is a town on the frontier noted for trafficking of children. Mr Timbilla, who is the Deputy director-General of the CID, said this at a durbar to observe the national celebration of the African Union (AU) Day of the African Child at Gemeni in the South Dayi District.

The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and the Coalition on the Rights of the Child organized the event. It was under the auspices of the International Labour Organization, the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Mr Timbilla said the passage of the Human Trafficking ACT (ACT 964) of 2005 gave mandate to the Police Administration to enforce the law to curtail child trafficking.

"Human trafficking and child labour are heinous crimes and not cultural practices", Mr Timbilla said and urged development partners to assist the Police Administration to deal with recalcitrant perpetrators. Hajia Alima Mahama, the Minister of MOWAC, blamed human trafficking on irresponsible parenting and appealed to parents to take advantage of the numerous government interventions to become economically self-sufficient.

Mr Joseph Nayan, Deputy Volta Regional Minister urged parents to change their attitude towards children and invest in their education. Ms Akua Eshun, Chairperson of Coalition of NGOs said hunger, poverty, conflicts, disease, child neglect, displacement, child labour and trafficking were militating against the development of the African child.

She appealed to the AU to seriously address these issues to ensure security for the African child.