The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service is to embark on an exercise to rescue children who engage in commercial sex at various points in the country.
Investigations by the police have revealed that some of the children who engage in this trade are as young as 10.
The Head of the Unit, Superintendent Patience Quaye, who disclosed this to the Junior Graphic in an interview, said her outfit was currently collecting intelligence reports on the problem and would take action to save the children immediately investigations had been completed.
She said the exercise which had been named �Operation Break the demand chain,� would also educate the public on dangers of human trafficking and child labour.
Supt Quaye said since 2011 the unit had rescued over 1,000 children and teenagers who were engaged in various kind of work that were hazardous to their health and well-being.
These children she said, included those who fished on the Volta and Bosomtwe Lakes and others who worked in mining areas, cocoa farms, quarries, among others.
Supt Quaye said her outfit also worked in Nigeria, The Gambia and Cote d�Ivoire to rescue Ghanaian children who engaged in activities which were dangerous to their survival.
Describing how they rescued children on the Volta Lake, Supt Quaye said unlike the non governmental organisations (NGO) which negotiated with the fishermen, as law enforces the unit ensured that once there was a report and the children were located they the children were taken away by force without negotiations with those who held them.
She said her unit then liased with the Department of Social Welfare to help trace the parents of such rescued children.
Supt Quaye said those whose parents were not traced were sent to orphanages where they attended school at the Village of Life Academy.
She pointed out that some of the rescued children had had education to the senior high school level.
She reminded parents that all children have the right to education, there was therefore the need for all to respect that right, enshrined in the constitution for all.
A team from the unit paid a visit to the children at the academy recently and presented clothes and educational items to them.
The Founder and Director of the Village of Life Academy, Mr George Achibra, thanked the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, the Dangme Community in Italy and all who donated through the Anti Human Trafficking Unit for their kindness.
He said his dream was to touch the lives of trafficked children by rescuing them from the lake and
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