Ghana’s Parliament Sounds Alarm on Surging Human Trafficking Crisis

In a powerful bipartisan call to action, members of Ghana’s Parliament have issued a stark warning about the escalating threat of human trafficking within the country’s borders. Describing recent data as “alarming,” lawmakers are demanding urgent, robust, and coordinated measures from both the legislative and executive branches to dismantle trafficking networks and protect vulnerable citizens, particularly women and children. This urgent appeal emerged from a critical capacity-building workshop organized by the International Justice Mission (IJM), spotlighting systemic gaps in enforcement, resources, and social support that perpetuate this form of modern slavery.

Key Points: Parliament’s Urgent Demands

The parliamentary discourse, led by committee chairs, crystallized several non-negotiable priorities for national action:

Strengthening Legal and Punitive Frameworks

Lawmakers are questioning whether existing penalties for traffickers, especially in child trafficking cases, are sufficiently severe to act as a deterrent. There is a consensus for a review of sentencing guidelines to ensure they reflect the gravity of the crime and align with international standards.

Overcoming Digital and Logistical Deficits

A recurring theme was the crippling lack of modern digital tools for victim identification, case management, and inter-agency coordination. Furthermore, key enforcement agencies are reported to be operating without basic logistics, such as vehicles, hampering proactive interventions in vulnerable communities.

Securing Adequate and Sustained Funding

The current allocation to the Human Trafficking Fund—a mere GH¢1 million—was universally criticized as “insufficient” and “non-operational.” Experts state an annual budget of GH¢4-5 million is the bare minimum required for effective victim rehabilitation and reintegration programs.

Addressing Root Causes: Poverty and Lack of Social Protection

Parliamentarians emphasized that trafficking cannot be policed alone. They are pressing the government for substantial investment in quality education, social safety nets, and economic empowerment initiatives to shield impoverished families from the desperation that traffickers exploit.

Enhancing Parliamentary Oversight

Newly formed committees, such as the Human Rights Committee, have pledged rigorous oversight to monitor the implementation of anti-trafficking laws by executive agencies, ensuring accountability and results.

Background: The Landscape of Trafficking in Ghana

Human trafficking in Ghana is a complex, deeply entrenched issue that transcends simple criminality. It is a phenomenon fueled by a confluence of socioeconomic vulnerabilities, porous borders, and sophisticated criminal networks.

Defining the Crime in the Ghanaian Context

Under Ghana’s Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694), trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or giving/receiving payments to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes forced labor, sexual exploitation, slavery, or the removal of organs.

Primary Vulnerable Groups and Trafficking Patterns

While trafficking affects all demographics, two patterns are predominant:

• Internal Child Trafficking: Children from rural, impoverished areas are often lured or coerced by traffickers with false promises of education or better livelihoods in urban centers or fishing communities (especially around Lake Volta), where they are subjected to hazardous forced labor.
• Cross-Border Trafficking: Ghanaian women and children are trafficked to neighboring West African countries (e.g., Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria) and further af