'Ghana's Human Trafficking Act needs fine-tuning'
Gilbert Boyefio
30/01/2007
The definition of human trafficking under the Ghana Human Trafficking Act, Act 694, which came into existence barely a year ago, has been described as overly ambitious and too wide in scope to make its implementation more effective.
The Human Trafficking Act seeks to prevent and suppress human trafficking as well as to protect its victims, but its definition of trafficking differs from international laws and conventions.
"A law that is not workable is no law'', says a legal practitioner and Programme Officer of the Legal Resource Centre, Rowland Atta-Kesson.
Speaking at a workshop on the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 Act 694, Mr Atta-Kesson said Ghana has ratified a lot of International Human Rights Conventions and laws in line with its obligation to the international community, thus the passage of the Human Trafficking Act was to serve as a complement. However, the Act does not meet the entire spectrum of international requirements, he noted.
The Act defines trafficking as ?the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, trading or receipt of persons within and across national borders?. Mr Atta-Kesson said the definition needs to be amended to include the purpose of exploitation.
According to him as the law stands now, there is the tendency that the law enforcement agencies will restrict themselves to only one aspect of the requirements, probably, the prosecution of offenders and neglect the others.
?There are three things that make up the Act, and therefore all should be given equal attention?, he added.
Mr Atta-Kesson said the framers of the law tried to make it workable by providing an inter-ministerial approach to its application or implementation.
In his view, this lapse in the definition of human trafficking in the country has been brought to the notice of the Attorney General?s Office and they have promised to look into it.
Recent estimates from the UN and the US State Department indicate that between 800,000 to 900,000 people are trafficked globally every year.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister for Interior, Albert Kan-Dapaah, described human trafficking as a menace that is eating into the Ghanaian social structure. ?The country is now considered as one of the source, transit and destination countries for children and women trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation?, he noted.
He said the institutional capacity of all stakeholders, especially the security agencies must be addressed to make the law on human trafficking workable.
Mr Kan-Dapaah identified the challenges facing the security agencies as far as human trafficking is concerned, as conducting proper investigations or pursuing criminals across international borders.
He also observed that human trafficking is seen by law enforcement agencies as a criminal process rather than a criminal event.
He said there is the difficulty in obtaining evidence from victims, witnesses and complainants that makes it difficult to identify the crime and the criminals and harder still to convict traffickers.
30/01/2007
The definition of human trafficking under the Ghana Human Trafficking Act, Act 694, which came into existence barely a year ago, has been described as overly ambitious and too wide in scope to make its implementation more effective.
The Human Trafficking Act seeks to prevent and suppress human trafficking as well as to protect its victims, but its definition of trafficking differs from international laws and conventions.
"A law that is not workable is no law'', says a legal practitioner and Programme Officer of the Legal Resource Centre, Rowland Atta-Kesson.
Speaking at a workshop on the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 Act 694, Mr Atta-Kesson said Ghana has ratified a lot of International Human Rights Conventions and laws in line with its obligation to the international community, thus the passage of the Human Trafficking Act was to serve as a complement. However, the Act does not meet the entire spectrum of international requirements, he noted.
The Act defines trafficking as ?the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, trading or receipt of persons within and across national borders?. Mr Atta-Kesson said the definition needs to be amended to include the purpose of exploitation.
According to him as the law stands now, there is the tendency that the law enforcement agencies will restrict themselves to only one aspect of the requirements, probably, the prosecution of offenders and neglect the others.
?There are three things that make up the Act, and therefore all should be given equal attention?, he added.
Mr Atta-Kesson said the framers of the law tried to make it workable by providing an inter-ministerial approach to its application or implementation.
In his view, this lapse in the definition of human trafficking in the country has been brought to the notice of the Attorney General?s Office and they have promised to look into it.
Recent estimates from the UN and the US State Department indicate that between 800,000 to 900,000 people are trafficked globally every year.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister for Interior, Albert Kan-Dapaah, described human trafficking as a menace that is eating into the Ghanaian social structure. ?The country is now considered as one of the source, transit and destination countries for children and women trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation?, he noted.
He said the institutional capacity of all stakeholders, especially the security agencies must be addressed to make the law on human trafficking workable.
Mr Kan-Dapaah identified the challenges facing the security agencies as far as human trafficking is concerned, as conducting proper investigations or pursuing criminals across international borders.
He also observed that human trafficking is seen by law enforcement agencies as a criminal process rather than a criminal event.
He said there is the difficulty in obtaining evidence from victims, witnesses and complainants that makes it difficult to identify the crime and the criminals and harder still to convict traffickers.
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