The Human Traffickers Are On The Prowl

http://www.modernghana.com/news/183914/1/the-human-traffickers-are-on-the-prowl.mgl

The Ghanian Times] 26 Sep 2008--Human trafficking has become a major menace in Ghana and other parts of the African continent. The miseries and stultifying effects of the cruelties of the slave trade which Africa suffered for four centuries before its abolition are better forgotten than remembered, but the world is currently plagued by modern day forms of the trade, dehumanizing the conditions of persons who fall victim to it.

In order to develop a programme of action directed at reducing and possibly eradicating the trafficking and smuggling of persons across national, regional and continental boundaries, the Migrants Commission of the Ghana Catholic Bishop's Conference organized a workshop in Accra last July, on the dangers of the menace for member organisations of Caritas Internationalis.

The workshop brought together about 35 participants from Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, La Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra- Leone and Liberia. They shared their nations' experiences on human trafficking and discussed strategies to mitigate or eliminate the incidence.

Among other objectives of the workshop was identifying inputs for a framework to guiding, rescuing and rehabilitation strategies, the various ways of resource mobilisation for media campaigns and providing inputs for the establishment of Rescue, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Committees at the regional, national, diocesan and parish levels. Also to establish a zonal network to enforce the implementation of the UN Action on Human trafficking.