Report by Ben LARYEA
The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Francisca Oteng Mensah has said human
trafficking has been a canker and must be collectively addressed in the West African sub-region to curb the
rising increase of trafficked people of all walks of life.
“Reports of trafficking of women for sexual exploitation as well as adults and children into forced labour
in areas like mining, fishing among others in the sub-region have reached an alarming proportion,” she
said.
Madam Francisca Oteng Mensah was speaking at a three-day program of the 15 th Annual Review Meeting
of the ECOWAS Regional Network of National Focal Institutions Against Trafficking in Persons Plus
(RN-NI-TIP) in Accra.
The program was funded by the European Union (EU) under the auspices of the International Centre for
Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) dubbed “Support To Free Movement and Migration in West
Africa” project.
The program is aimed at bringing to the fore the implementation of key decisions of the TIP Plus
approach and deliberate among other ECOWAS member states to strategize to fight trafficking in persons
as participants use the occasion to assess the implementation of a plan of action which started in 2018 and
climaxed in 2022 in human trafficking.
Consequently, it urges ECOWAS member countries to network and build also linkages among players in
the human trafficking space to come up with a comprehensive framework that addresses victims across
the sub-region.
According to her, greed and the cruel way of making money had created imbalances for people being
trafficked and have also created psychological and physical trauma for victims and said that people found
to be involved in human trafficking be prosecuted.
The Deputy Minister however urged member states to forge closer ties and network effectively to the
address the rising increase of human trafficking in the sub-region saying in spite of the numerous research
and strategies put in place to curb the menace the practice still persists.
The Deputy Minister applauded member countries in the fight against human trafficking and was quick to
make reference to Ghana’s second phase of implementation of the National Plan of action for the
Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana (2022-2026).
She therefore urged participants to engage and discuss the measures and support for victims of trafficking
with the needed counselling to reduce the vulnerabilities of such victims.
The Head of Office-International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Amela Obiokoye-
Nwalor challenged member states to put their acts together to help put a stop to human trafficking and
exploitation.
Ms. Pauline Okken at the German Embassy urged actors in the member countries to roll out initiatives in
relations to anti-trafficking issues to reduce the rampant increase in human trafficking in West Africa
sub-region.
The Head of the Traffick in Persons Unit of ECOWAS, Olatunde Olayemi said the practice is not only in the
sub-region but as far as North and Central Africa, Saudi Arabia among others.
