Judiciary schooled on impact of human trafficking
Gilbert Boyefio
05/02/2007
It is estimated that in West Africa, 200,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked each year.
In Ghana, although there is no organised data on human trafficking, according to a 2003 survey report from the Ghana Statistical Service, 2,475,545 representing 39 percent out of the 6,361,111 children in Ghana were engaged in income generating activities.
An estimated total of 1,273,294 representing 20 percent of Ghanaian children were engaged in child labour and over 1,031,220 of this number were under 13 years old.
It is also estimated that 242,074 children were engaged in hazardous child labour and that most child labour issues are linked to internal trafficking.
National Programme Coordinator of the ILO, Matthew Dally observed that it is most essential to generate awareness on the part of the legal community on the mechanisms of trafficking; especially the activities of recruiters, transporters, intermediates and other players in the trafficking ring to enable them develop strategic policy instruments to fight the canker.
The workshop which was organised by the Legal Resource Centre, a non profit NGO, with support from the ILO, was aimed at further enhancing the skills and knowledge of the legal community to develop appropriate legislative policies in combating human trafficking in Ghana.
It is also expected that this workshop will go a long way to facilitate enforcement of the laws and regulations on trafficking in persons in the context of the definition of trafficking as interpreted and understood by the international community.
In this light, the Judiciary has been urged to lobby government to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention 138 on the minimum age of employment that has been before Parliament since 2000.
"Under UN convention any person below the age of 15 is considered a child and that person is not allowed to work or undertake any hazardous duty,? said Matthew Dally. He spoke with The Statesman during a workshop on Human Trafficking Act 694, organised for members of the justice community.
Mr Dally noted that although Government has adopted the principles of ILO Convention 138 into the Children Act (Act 560), it has continually hesitated in ratifying the international law itself. ?A country is an association of States and therefore when you are a member State, you have to be part of the laws governing it?, he argued. ?Although it is important to localise international laws into laws applicable to your society, what if today Ghana decides to change its local laws, does that make it a non member of the international community?? he queried.
He said it is imperative that Ghana ratifies recent international human rights laws pertinent to the protection of children from trafficking, including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in persons, especially children which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights and Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
In his address, Mr Dally noted that it is very important for members of the legal community to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of trafficking persons in order to support all related legislations. ?Members of the legal community need to be familiar with various International Conventions and Protocols used in combating human trafficking?, he added.
Mr Dally observed that it is most essential to generate awareness on the part of the legal community on the mechanisms of trafficking; especially the activities of recruiters, transporters, intermediates and other players in the trafficking ring to enable them develop strategic policy instruments to fight the canker.
05/02/2007
It is estimated that in West Africa, 200,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked each year.
In Ghana, although there is no organised data on human trafficking, according to a 2003 survey report from the Ghana Statistical Service, 2,475,545 representing 39 percent out of the 6,361,111 children in Ghana were engaged in income generating activities.
An estimated total of 1,273,294 representing 20 percent of Ghanaian children were engaged in child labour and over 1,031,220 of this number were under 13 years old.
It is also estimated that 242,074 children were engaged in hazardous child labour and that most child labour issues are linked to internal trafficking.
National Programme Coordinator of the ILO, Matthew Dally observed that it is most essential to generate awareness on the part of the legal community on the mechanisms of trafficking; especially the activities of recruiters, transporters, intermediates and other players in the trafficking ring to enable them develop strategic policy instruments to fight the canker.
The workshop which was organised by the Legal Resource Centre, a non profit NGO, with support from the ILO, was aimed at further enhancing the skills and knowledge of the legal community to develop appropriate legislative policies in combating human trafficking in Ghana.
It is also expected that this workshop will go a long way to facilitate enforcement of the laws and regulations on trafficking in persons in the context of the definition of trafficking as interpreted and understood by the international community.
In this light, the Judiciary has been urged to lobby government to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention 138 on the minimum age of employment that has been before Parliament since 2000.
"Under UN convention any person below the age of 15 is considered a child and that person is not allowed to work or undertake any hazardous duty,? said Matthew Dally. He spoke with The Statesman during a workshop on Human Trafficking Act 694, organised for members of the justice community.
Mr Dally noted that although Government has adopted the principles of ILO Convention 138 into the Children Act (Act 560), it has continually hesitated in ratifying the international law itself. ?A country is an association of States and therefore when you are a member State, you have to be part of the laws governing it?, he argued. ?Although it is important to localise international laws into laws applicable to your society, what if today Ghana decides to change its local laws, does that make it a non member of the international community?? he queried.
He said it is imperative that Ghana ratifies recent international human rights laws pertinent to the protection of children from trafficking, including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in persons, especially children which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights and Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
In his address, Mr Dally noted that it is very important for members of the legal community to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of trafficking persons in order to support all related legislations. ?Members of the legal community need to be familiar with various International Conventions and Protocols used in combating human trafficking?, he added.
Mr Dally observed that it is most essential to generate awareness on the part of the legal community on the mechanisms of trafficking; especially the activities of recruiters, transporters, intermediates and other players in the trafficking ring to enable them develop strategic policy instruments to fight the canker.
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