Ghana receives 21 trafficked children from South Africa

Ghana's Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) said on Wednesday it had received 21 Ghanaian minors trafficked to Pretoria, South Africa, ostensibly to play football.

The operation was carried out by the Department of Social Development which is under the MGCSP in collaboration with representatives of the International Organization of Migration (IMO), the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Police Service, the South Africa Embassy and the Human Trafficking Secretariat on Dec. 15, 2015.

The trafficked children, between the ages of nine and 16, were deceived into believing that they were going to be trained in South Africa and sent to Europe and America to play football, Victoria Natsu, Acting Executive Secretary of the Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Secretariat, told the press in Accra.

While in South Africa, the children were made to play a few matches while the trafficker returned to Ghana under the pretext of recruiting more children but was never seen again.

She said the trafficker was able to convince the parents/guardians and a local chief in western Ghana at a durbar where he was given a parcel of land to set up a football academy.

The South African authorities rescued the trafficked children to a shelter in Pretoria after the expiration of their visas.

"The children have been kept in a shelter home and taken through various rehabilitation processes since their arrival in the country," Natsu said.

The ministry is expected to do follow-up visits to the communities affected to meet with the chiefs, opinion leaders and parents to sensitize and empower them to be able to identify potential traffickers. Endit