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A total of 161 trafficked children, who were engaged in various forms of child labour across the country, have so far been rescued by Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), in special operations, this year.

Also, 32 trafficked adults, including foreigners, were lured into prostitution, and 42 youth, who were being illegally trafficked to serve as domestic workers in the Gulf States, were rescued by the unit.

The children were mostly engaged in fishing activities on the Volta Lake in the Volta Region, and Elmina in the Central Region, while the adults, especially foreigners were trafficked into the country for prostitution.

Superintendent Mike Baah, Director of the AHTU, confirmed the story to Ghanaian Times in Accra on Friday.

He said as part of efforts to address the menace in the country, his outfit had embarked on vigorous training of its personnel and regional prosecutors across the county, to enhance their skills.

Supt Baah indicated that more AHTU units had also been opened, to enable the public report such cases, to reduce the pressure on personnel at the AHTU headquarters.

He said the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Department of Social Welfare, Ghana Immigration Service, Labour Department and non-governmental organisations were collaborating with the AHTU, to educate the public on the menace.

“AHTU will also continue to liaise with the Intelligence Unit at the CID to gather information about the activities of human traffickers, to foil their operations,” Supt Baah added.

He stated that human trafficking affected Ghana’s image, socio economic development and hampered the wellbeing of children.

Supt Baah said Ghana had been ranked as a tier two watch list country in the 2017 trafficking in persons report, released by the United States government, which has as a result, threatened to withdraw grants to Ghana if the situation worsened.

He urged the media, religious organisations and opinion leaders to join the campaign against human trafficking, and cautioned parents not to release their children and relations to undertake hazardous work.