IOM Accra Partners with Miss Ghana 2009 to Rescue Trafficked
Children and Increase Awareness on Counter-Trafficking.

The IOM Mission in Ghana, in collaboration with Miss Ghana 2009,
has embarked on a sensitization and educational campaign programme
to address communities on the Volta Lake about the pitfalls of
human trafficking, especially child trafficking.

Mimi Areme, Miss Ghana 2009, on learning about IOM's project for
trafficked children, approached the project manager and volunteered
to team up with the Organization to support the campaign against
child trafficking in Ghana as part of something she is passionate
about.

After spending a week last November on one of the islands in
Kete Krachi, she remarked, "When I look into the eyes of these
children, all I see is pain and torture.  I promised myself to
do all I could during my reign to make a difference in the lives of
these children.  I will continue the fight against trafficking
in Ghana."

Since 2002, IOM has rescued, rehabilitated, reunited and
reintegrated 684 children who were trafficked to work with
fishermen.  The children were sold for little money by
impoverished parents who often held the belief that the children
would be adequately fed, educated and taught a useful trade.

Trafficking of children along the Volta Lake is a phenomenon
which has been practiced since the creation of the lake. 
Children between the ages of 5 and 15 years are given out by their
parents and grandparents to work for fishermen in exchange for
money.  The fishermen pay between 20 and 100 Ghana Cedis (USD
15 to 80) to engage the services of these boys and girls in their
fishing business. 

The number of years these children were "leased" is agreed upon
by the parents and masters.  Normally, the fishermen could
engage their services for a period of two to six years. 

Their duties are to dive and disentangle nets, cast-out, set and
pull the net or hook, scoop water from and paddle the canoe, among
others.  Some eat once a day and are made to work under
hazardous conditions for long hours.

Miss Ghana continues to fulfil her promise to the children, and
recently teamed up with the IOM team, headed by Dyane Epstein, IOM
Ghana's Chief of Mission, and Evan Robbins, a teacher from Metuchen
High School in the US state of New Jersey, on a four-day rescue
mission from three islands near Kete Krachi.

"It took long hours of negotiations between the IOM team and the
fishermen who were keeping the children.  It was not easy to
get the fishermen to release the children," recalls Epstein.

Her efforts have resulted in the successful release of
trafficked children who were being held under bonded and
exploitative labour within fishing communities in Kete-Krachi and
Yeji, along the shores of the Volta Lake.

"The most emotional part of the trip was when one of the
children identified for rescue was crying to be released but his
master's wife was not ready to let him go because she believed that
there are some customary rites to be performed before the boy could
leave for his village.  The process is not an easy one and
strong cultural beliefs are often difficult to break," adds
Epstein.

The new partnership has also increased awareness of human
trafficking amongst the residents of fishing communities on Volta
Lake.

IOM hopes to continue to collaborate with Miss Ghana 2009, to
continue to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked
children and to give them the opportunity to go back to school and
fulfil their dreams.

For more information on this IOM programme and to help rescue
and reintegrate trafficked children in Ghana, please click here
class="paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"/jahia/Jahia/support-trafficked-children-ghana" target="" title=
"">http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/support-trafficked-children-ghana