Ghana Church Launches 5-Year Campaign to Battle Child Trafficking
- Carrie Dedrick
- Updated Sep 02, 2016
![Ghana Church Launches 5-Year Campaign to Battle Child Trafficking](https://i.swncdn.com/media/700w/crosswalk/resource/areas/crosswalk/resources/images/defaultimages/article-large-landscape.png)
An Anglican diocese in Ghana has launched a campaign to fight child trafficking in the nation. According to Christian Today, the campaign is slated to take place over five years with a goal of building a new community shelter for children rescued from the human trafficking industry.
The shelter would provide a place for children to live and pursue and education.
The United States embassy is also taking part in the project to keep children from sex trafficking and forced labor. A $5 million agreement was signed in support of Ghana’s efforts to combat child trafficking.
Bishop of the Accra Diocese Rt. Rev. Daniel Sylvanus Mensah Torto said that the campaign brings new awareness to the major human trafficking problem in the country.
The church’s hope is to influence "national and international policies, laws, and programs that protect children and also push for law enforcement,” Torto said.
He continued that the "main underlying factor for child trafficking in Ghana.”
According to the Trafficking in Persons report, "Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to forced labor within the country in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, portering, artisanal gold mining, quarrying, herding, and agriculture. Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are subjected to prostitution within Ghana."
Publication date: September 2, 2016