Kadjebi (O/R), May 23, GNA-ActionAid Ghana has organised a day’s capacity building workshop for 60 Community-Based Anti-Violent Team (COMBAT) and eight Child Protection Committee (CPC) members.
The COMBAT 60 participants were drawn from the ActionAid operational communities in Jasikan and Kadjebi Districts, while the eight CPC members came from World Vision impact communities in Kadjebi.
Modern slavery is quite common in Ghana, manifesting in the forms of exploitation of children and women labour, especially within the agricultural sector.
However, the phenomenon has not received the needed attention to address the various forms of modern slavery.
Mr. Foster Adase-Adjei, the ActionAid Ghana Programme Officer for Volta and Oti Regions, disclosed these at the workshop at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.
One critical gap that perpetuates and entrenched modern slavery is the lack of capacity and community level structures to build anti-slavery, human trafficking referral and whistleblowing in hotspots of modern slavery.
To address this gap, the project would build the capacity of community leaders/structures on anti-modern slavery and human trafficking referrals systems/protocols and build their capacity in whistleblowing.
This is expected to ensure that all cases of modern slavery, especially within the agricultural sector, are reported to the appropriate authorities.
Mr. Adase-Adjei appealed to the beneficiaries to help reduce modern day slavery together through networking and collaboration.
Detective Sergeant Bismark Walker Tetteh, the Kadjebi District CID, called on the participants to help identify and arrest perpetrators of human trafficking.
He said the act took many forms and could happen anywhere.
He said the perpetrators engaged in the act for monetary gains, and the act takes the form of fraud, deception, and abduction.
Mr. Eric Arthur Fynn, Kadjebi District Director of Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), urged participants to help protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect.
According to him, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child placed obligation on States to protect children from all forms of maltreatment perpetrated by adults and to undertake preventive and treatment programmes in that regard.
Ms. Cynthia Worlali Kpese, a participant from Kutey in the Jakisan District, said the workshop had enlightened her on modern forms of slavery and could educate community members on it.
The workshop was funded by Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (Norad).
GNA