Forum Against Human Trafficking

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday October 3, 2011.
THE MONTHLY Citizen Kofi Media Dialogue Series that seeks to identify development problems of the country and tries to offer suggestions for social change has moved to sensitize media practitioners on one of the major threats to human existence – Human trafficking.

Human trafficking described widely as modern-day slavery is a lucrative business that needs well-resourced and motivated media and other state institutions to break the front this social menace.

At the Citizen Kofi Center in Accra last Friday, Angela Dwamena-Aboagye of the Ark Foundation who was the moderator for the 9th edition of the thought-provoking dialogue described human trafficking as “a social menace that needs a concerted effort to fight and defeat it.”

“We as a country are not doing well in this area at all. People are trafficked on a daily basis and nobody seems to care about the situation. Those who indulge in this heinous crime do so with impunity.”

She said the journalists needed more training to help expose what she called “this sophisticated criminal business”, adding “we have to take a stand and raise the issue to a level where we can demand accountability.”

Dr. Kofi Amoah, owner of Citizen Kofi and initiator of the Dialogue Series the issue of human trafficking is a crucial one and should never be taken for granted.

“Before I came here I was surfing the internet and came across startling revelations about this illicit trade. According to the United Nations, the global profit for human trafficking for 2005 alone was estimated between 31.5 billion dollars and in 2008 alone about 2.5 billion people from 127 countries were trafficked to 137 countries.”

“This is alarming statistics. From the records, this illicit trade is supposed to be second only to drug trafficking.”

He said the time has come for the media to use its platform to engage the public and sensitize them on the menace human trafficking poses to the entire society.

“Be advocates for moving the country to the right direction and with the media’s deep involvement we can all help to bring this menace under control.”

A Deputy Director from the Department of Social Welfare said the government was doing its best to check the menace but lack of resources was the main reason mitigating against the effort.

“We are mandated to protect the vulnerable in the society particularly women and children and we have put in place some mechanism to monitor the situation and UNICEF has been helpful in this area of our work,” he said.

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Managing Editor of Crusading Guide who shared his experience on how he and his team of reporters are using the media to fight the menace said there “inadequacies relative to legislative frameworks”.

“Those of us in the field are confronted with certain challenges including risks. It is a multi-million business. It is like the narcotic drugs business. We have to find ways of protecting the journalists who are willing to confront the menace.”

He said the capacities of the media needed to be built to be able to tackle this global phenomenon saying “without capacity building we would not get anywhere.”

A number of local NGOs who are working in the area of human trafficking also shared their experiences with the large audience.