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The Office of the President yesterday hosted the first Child Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership signing by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, and U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Gene Cretz, which will facilitate investment of up to $5 million in U.S. foreign assistance to aid the Government of Ghana to reduce child trafficking and improve child protection.

The partnership is a jointly-developed, multi-year plan aimed at bolstering current efforts of the Government of Ghana and Ghanaian civil society to address child sex trafficking and forced child labour within Ghana.

The U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons represented the United States in developing and negotiating this plan with its Ghanaian partners.

Children can fall prey to economic hardships in Ghana, and some are subjected to forced child labour within Ghana in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, pottering, quarrying, artisanal gold mining, and agriculture.

Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are also subjected to sex trafficking within Ghana, including in the three regions that are the focus of this partnership: the Central, Volta, and Greater Accra regions.

The CPC Partnership seeks to establish a more holistic approach to improving co-ordination of government and civil society anti-trafficking efforts and enhancing Ghana’s capacity to prosecute and convict child traffickers, protect child victims of human trafficking, and prevent child trafficking.

The partnership includes objectives such as successful investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of child traffickers; improved efforts to identify and remove children from situations of sex trafficking and forced child labour; the provision of comprehensive care and case management services; increased public awareness of the nature of child trafficking; the devastating impact on children, and the importance of prevention.

The CPC Partnership reflects the personal commitment of President Mahama and his ministers – namely, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur; the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Marrieta Brew Appiah Oppong; the Minister of Interior, Mark Owen Woyongo; and the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu – to the protection of Ghanaian children.

“The United States is pleased to partner with these ministries that share responsibility for addressing child trafficking in Ghana, as well as with dedicated civil society organisations in Ghana working collaboratively with Ghanaian law enforcement and child protection agencies to stand up for the children and Ghana’s future,” said Ambassador Cretz.