Senya Breku: Parents selling children for GHC 20

Some parents in the Senya Breku district in the Central region are selling their children as low as GHC20 into prostitution, Gender Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba has revealed.

According to the minister, the practice is depriving children in the area their right to womanhood and a better future.

Speaking at the launch of a campaign to end Child Abuse in Ghana, Otiko said over 90 percent of children in Ghana have suffered either sexual or physical abuse.

“You sell a child for as low as GHC20; that the worth of a child is less than the worth of a fowl or a goat, that is not the Ghana our ancestors left for us. You cannot allow your child to go and prostitute to feed you, that is shirking your responsibility", she said.

“There is no pride in selling out your 12-year old into marriage, it is a dishonorable event, it is indeed haram and it must stop”.

In 2014, Child prostitution topped the list of the most common Child Sexual Tourism (CST) in the country.

Findings from the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, Ghana – Section 2015 revealed that 30 out of 44 respondents, approximately 68.2 percent, selected child prostitution as the common form of

CST in tourist destinations.

Other manifestations of CTS selected by the respondents, which are in the minimum levels, included child pornography, 26.7 percent and child marriage, 20 percent.