Cyberspace facilitating human trafficking

Almost 25 million people worldwide are trapped in human trafficking, a form of modern slavery.

Human trafficking is also the second-largest criminal enterprise in the world.

According to the United Nations Palermo Protocol, trafficking in persons is defined as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, using the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation."

It includes, "the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

Much has been said of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Ghana.

The sustained attention on this matter has resulted in the implementation of several measures by successive governments to prosecute traffickers, protect victims of trafficking and prevent trafficking.

In 2009, the Human Trafficking Act, 2009 (Act 784) amended Section 1(1) of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694) to bring the definition of human trafficking under the Act in line with the international standard set by the Palermo Protocol.

The Human Trafficking Prohibition (Protection and Reintegration of Trafficked Persons) Regulations, 2015, L.I. 2219 complement the Act to form the legislative framework for combating Human Trafficking.

These laws are read together with the Children's Act of 1998 (Act 560), the Criminal Offences Act of 1960 (Act 29), and the Criminal Procedure Act of 1960 (Act 30).

Measures

Beyond legislation, other measures deployed to combat Human Trafficking include the establishment of the 13-member Human Trafficking Secretariat to sensitise the public and to reduce the incidence of TIP, the establishment of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Ghana Police Service and the Anti-Human Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons Unit (AHSTIP) of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the development of a National Plan of Action to eliminate Human Trafficking in Ghana; the institution of standard operating procedures (SOP) to help identify victims and refer them to services, as well as the building and running of shelters for rescued victims.

Additionally, Ghana has co-operated with other countries to check the prevalence of TIP.

These include a bilateral agreement with La Cote d'Ivoire to fight against cross-border child trafficking, the worst forms of child labour, and the five-year US-Ghana Child Protection Compact Partnership signed in 2015.

Report

However, in the recent 2023 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report by the US Department of State, the Government of Ghana did not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking, despite significant efforts.

We remain in Tier 2; (i.e., countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA's minimum standards but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.)

Heartbreaking

It is heartbreaking to note that while the government is striving relentlessly to tackle the known patterns of Human Trafficking, traffickers are taking advantage of technological advancements and new media to forge new ways to facilitate human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking.

This has transformed the global human trafficking business into one UNICEF conservatively estimates turn an annual profit of about USD 32 billion; other estimates peg this figure as over USD 150 billion.

Human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking, happens on this scale because an entire infrastructure supports and facilitates it.

Young, vulnerable, and impressionable girls are recruited through social media sites such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, with traffickers masquerading as love interests.

Others are lured by the extravagant lifestyles of social media influencers whom traffickers sponsor.

According to a 2018 report by the All-Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade of the British Parliament, other women are lured online with promises of employment in other countries only to be coerced into brothels when they arrive.

Preliminary evidence shows that sex trafficking employing the Internet is already operational here in Ghana.

A 2018 study by the Eban Centre for Human Trafficking Studies found that traffickers used social media to recruit victims into sex trafficking in Ghana.

Additionally, the arrest of Anderson Ofosu Hene, alias Mario G, the administrator of Empress Leak, a pornography website where minors are targeted to procure sexually explicit content from them, after which the victims will be made to perform sexual acts or extorted in exchange for the removal of their images and videos from the site, exemplifies the state of sex trafficking in the country.

The foregoing indicates that the time is ripe to amend our Human Trafficking Act to catch up with the misdeeds of these evil people.

It is imperative to update our Human Trafficking legislative framework to include criminal liability for people who recruit, transport, transfer, harbour, sell or buy other people using the aid of cyberspace.

Civil and criminal sanctions must similarly apply to others who knowingly profit from hosting content from traffickers.

Funding

There is also the issue of funding.

Significant gaps remain in the funding available to the Human Trafficking Secretariat at the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.

In that respect, I humbly request the Ministry of Finance to regularly release the GH¢1m allocation to the fund this year and make substantial appropriations in future budgets.

We need to, as a state, continue to increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes.

There is a need to amend the 2015 implementing regulations for the 2005 human trafficking law to remove the option of a fine in place of imprisonment in cases where the trafficker is a parent or guardian of a child victim.

We also must proactively screen for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations — including Ghanaian women travelling abroad for domestic work, returning migrants, and domestic and foreign workers.

These steps are necessary for the increased prosecution of traffickers, protecting potential victims of trafficking, and preventing the further evolution of human trafficking.

My commitment to seeing the end of Human Trafficking led me to start the Parliamentary Round-table discussion on Human Trafficking.

Last year, the event invited a group of decision-makers in Ghana, including legislators, executives, subject matter experts, and survivor leaders, to focus on addressing Ghana’s effort at stopping Human Trafficking.

Hopefully, this year, my office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and social protection and other partners, will hold a round-table meeting to discuss the gaps in fully complying with the minimum standards to reach tier one.