�Poverty Drives Modern-Day Slavery In Ghana�

It is estimated that some 193,100 people are still living in modern-day slavery in Ghana, according to the 2014, Global Slavery index. The numbers constitute 0.7456% of the Ghanaian population. Globally, there are an estimated 35.8 million people living in some form of modern slavery, according to the report. The index ranked Ghana 8 in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 21 out of the 167 countries surveyed globally. The Index is the flagship report produced by the Walk Free Foundation, a global human rights organisation dedicated to ending modern slavery. The organisation defined Modern Slavery as involving one person possessing or controlling a person in such as a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty, with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal. In Ghana , the phenomenon is primarily influenced by economic factors, with poverty accounting for the major deciding factor in parents� decisions to send their children away from home to work, and be trained elsewhere. �In Ghana, trafficking for forced labour is the most prevalent form of modern slavery. Further, internal trafficking, particularly of children, is more widespread than transnational trafficking. Within Ghana, sectors most affected by modern slavery are small-scale fishing, small-scale mining, domestic service and agriculture.� Modern slavery is estimated to be the driving force for the production of at least 122 goods from 58 countries worldwide. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates the illicit profits of forced labour to be US$150 billion a year. �While we all have a role to play, the actions of government are paramount in addressing this problem. Only governments can ensure that victims are not treated as criminals. Only governments can adopt national action plans and allocate budgets to fund responses,� the report noted. Ghana has many legislations against human trafficking such as the Children�s Act (1998), the Labour Act (2003), and the 1996 Criminal Code Amendment Bill. The Human Trafficking Act, 2005 prohibits all forms of human trafficking and deals with prevention, reduction and punishment of human traffickers, the establishment of victims� funds for protection as well as rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficked persons and other related matters.