Stakeholders share views on ActionAid's modern slavery project – News Ghana

Stakeholders at an ActionAid Ghana programme at Kadjebi on combating modern slavery have shared divergent views on the phenomenon.

While some were of the view that there was a need for a support system, others said the laws on anti-trafficking, labour, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), must be enforced and applied rigidly.

The platform was created to allow participants to discuss ways of combating modern slavery.

The NGO, with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (Norad), is currently implementing a project entitled: “Combating Modern Slavery in Ghana” in these districts.

The 25-member discussants, who were drawn from Jasikan and Kadjebi Districts, were selected from CHRAJ, NCCE, Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, Queenmothers, and Department of Agriculture, among others.

Speaking at the programme, Mr Foster Adase-Adjei, the ActionAid Ghana Programme Officer for Volta and Oti Regions, said modern-day slavery manifested in the form of commercial sexual exploitation, child labour, trafficking, debt bondage, forced/early marriage and domestic servitude and forced labour is quite common in Ghana, but unfortunately, received little or no attention.

He said the canker could only be minimised through collaboration among institutions and key stakeholders.

Adase-Adjei said combating modern slavery in Ghana was a shared responsibility, so everyone must contribute to it.

Contributing, Mr Isaac Robson Klu, Kadjebi District Director, Social Welfare and Community Development, said as a nation before we could succeed in the fight against modern slavery and its attendant problems, we needed to strengthen our Support System.

He said when this is done, then the existing laws could work to perfection.

Mr Klu said the survivors needed to be supported financially to come to terms with the reality of life because at the time what to eat after the ordeal and trauma they went through was difficult.

He said the situation could force them to go back to where they were rescued, even though it was better for them if they were still in that former place.

The District Director said as a result of weak financial parents, survivors preferred settlement of these cases at home for financial benefits those perpetrators used to entice them since the state failed to provide financial support to handle the situation.

He said the survivors also needed psychological counselling by Clinical psychologists, but they were few in the country and that some regions could not even boast of one.

Mr Klu said at times, resources for doctors to examine such survivors to produce the medical report were problematic leading to difficulty in prosecution.

He said not “until these bottlenecks are removed, we cannot win the fight against modern-day slavery.”

Mr Eric Arthur Fynn, Kadjebi District Director of Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said everyone, everywhere has the right to a life free from slavery, but currently, millions of children and adults are trapped in slavery in every single country in the world.

He said everyone, everywhere, should have the freedom to make safe, dignified choices about their lives.

The participants suggested that the campaign be extended to transport unions and students for them to know the forms and new dimensions of modern slavery to report when they noticed or saw such practices.

A similar programme was organised at Nkwanta in the Nkwanta South Municipality of the Oti Region.