It found an 46-per cent increase in reported human trafficking cases between 2020 and 2021.

The study, titled: “Baseline study on combatting modern slavery in Ghana project (CMSP)”, also showed that 80 per cent of the trafficked victims were children while 20 per cent were adults.

It also identified child labour and long working hours as the most common forms of modern slavery in the study districts.

The study further indicated that between 2020 and 2021, a total of 2,103 Ghanaians and 648 other nationals were trafficked from the country

ActionAid Ghana, an international nongovernmental organisation with footprints in Ghana, therefore, called on the government to resource antimodern slavery institutions to help clamp down on the practice in the country.

The study

ActionAid Ghana, which works against poverty and injustice worldwide, in partnership with the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) with funding support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation launched the ‘Combatting Modern Slavery in Ghana’ Project in September 2021 to help identify, prevent and address child and forced labour within the agricultural sector, including children and women involved in agricultural plantations under conditions of servitude.

The project through strategic advocacy and empowerment interventions seeks to reduce the incidence of modern slavery within the agricultural sector in four regions, 12 districts and 100 communities in the country.

The project will be implemented from January 2021 to December 2023.

The initiative was intended to complement the government’s effort at eradicating child labour which is manifested in the form of forced labour, child labour (including the worst forms of child labour), human trafficking, debt bondage and unfair contract farming practices.

The project is currently being implemented in the Northern, Upper West, Bono, Ahafo and Oti regions with 11 districts— Kpandai, East Gonja, Nanumba South, Sissala East, Wa East, Lawra, Jaman North, Jaman South, Tain, Nkwanta South and Jasikan, benefi ting from it.

In all, about 26,700 people are expected to benefit from the three-year initiative, which will be implemented in 100 communities.

The baseline survey was conducted in eight out of the twelve project districts and in fifty out of the hundred communities.

Baseline data was collected from 950 respondents including female-household heads, household members, employers and employees of agribusinesses and key informants from CSOs, media and state institutions involved in combatting modern slavery.

Background

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that there are 40 million people in modern slavery as of 2017. This included: 25 million people in forced labour and 15 million people in forced marriage, with one in four (25 per cent) victims of modern slavery being children.

Findings

The ActionAid baseline study identifi ed poverty as the major motivating factor, fueling the menace of human trafficking and modern slavery in the country, particularly in the case of children.