...As the Nation Prepares for Ghana 2008

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service and some organizations have uncovered plots by some people to recruit children for prostitution during the African Cup of Nations tournament, Ghana 2008.

The government has therefore been called upon to put measures in place to prevent the plotters who are mostly human traffickers from having a field day.

Panelists at a two-day workshop on "Combating Child Trafficking in Ghana - the Role of the Media" noted that, human trafficking is the third most lucrative business in the world after drugs and trading of arms, with an estimated annual earning of $5-$7 billion.

The workshop at Senchi near Akosombo in the Eastern Region was organized by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and sponsored by the British High Commission. It brought together journalists from Volta, Eastern, Central, Greater Accra and Western regions.

The human traffickers often recruit minors who are turned into sexual workers. These children are exploited and paid pittance for their "hard work".

The children sometimes end up contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Prostitution is illegal in Ghana..

The fear of the panelists emanated from the fact that, globally, perpetrators of human trafficking habitually take advantage of international sporting events like the Ghana 2008 tournament to recruit sex workers for their operations, which children are not left out.

A child right activist Mr. Bright Appiah of Children's Right International an NGO, said that he had information from Kumasi that some "underground agents" have been paid to recruit sex workers which some of the targets are children.

He said as the security agencies beef up their watchdog role in host cities and surrounding towns of Ghana 2008 tournament, children could also be protected if government imposed a curfew on children during the tournament.

The Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, Mr. Adu-Poku said international sporting events have become fertile ground for human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.

"The international sporting events have become a fertile ground for human trafficking, for sexual exploitation, the documented patterns of frequent trafficking of children for force prostitution during world cups and others as well as the increase of recruitment of children for force prostitution in South Africa for the upcoming world cup create a dire picture..We need to fight it to ensure zero tolerance for human trafficking,' he said.

He said human trafficking is linked to organized crime and called for concerted efforts to cut the demand and discourage the supply.

According to a UN estimation, about 706,000 to four million women and children are trafficked every year. Out of the figure, 50% are children with some as young as under six years.

Mr. Adu-Poku said with the money they are making out of the business, it would be very difficult for them to stop. To fight human trafficking effectively, he said there should be protection, prosecution, awareness creation and assistance to victims.

Tatiana Kotlyarenko, Executive Director of Enslavement Prevention Alliance West Africa said, even though anti-human trafficking preventative measures have mitigated the practice, there is still the need for the media to play a critical role in spreading awareness of human trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation.

"In South Africa, there are media reports of how street children as young as nine years old are being lured and prepared for prostitution for World Cup 2010," she said and warned: "With no preventative measures in place and relatively easy border crossings for other ECOWAS members prior to and during the CAN 2008, it is highly probable that thousands of women and children will be trafficked into Ghana for the purposes of sexual exploitation, as well as recruited internally."

Child rights advocates met on Monday at the offices of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to strategize on how to abort the plans of the traffickers.

Meanwhile there have been media reports of invasion of prostitutes from neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria to Accra and Takoradi respectively, a move the secret association of sex workers in both cities have expressed concern about.