The Problem
Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. It is estimated that over 1.8 million young people are engaged in child labour in Ghana. It is also estimated that over 1 million of Ghana’s 6.3 million children below the age of 15 are excluded from school. We have identified poverty, lack of education, and poor law enforcement as key reasons for child trafficking and forced labour in Ghana.
The coastal communities of Ghana are source communities for children trafficked to Lake Volta. Fishing is a way of life in the communities along the coast, and as such many children pick up fishing skills at an early age, making them appealing to traffickers heading to Lake Volta. The 2016 Global Slavery index estimates that there are 103,300 people in Ghana in modern slavery, and that 21,000 of them are children on Lake Volta.
Modern slavery is a global issue, with an estimated 45.8 million people in slavery worldwide.