Child trafficking remains an issue in Ghana, especially in the fishing industries. Children of various ages and nationalities may fall victim to perpetrators. The Ghana Police are the frontline officers who are the first to identify and rescue the child victims of trafficking and investigate the trafficking cases.

It is therefore crucial for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to partner with the Ghana Police Service to strengthen the investigation of trafficking cases through training and building of capacities of police officers.

In October 2020, a series of trainings took place aimed at improving rescue, investigation and prosecution processes to contribute to ending trafficking in persons in the country.

In a workshop on 6 October 2020, 16 senior police officers validated a training manual entitled “Effective First Response and Proactive and Reactive Investigation of Trafficking Cases” developed to improved investigation processes to help end trafficking in persons in the country.

The validated curriculum formed the basis for a Training of Trainers (ToT) from Ghana police academies, which took place from 12 to 16 October in Accra. 18 senior trainers from Police Academies in the Greater Accra, Central, Eastern, Ashanti, Northern and Volta Regions participated to strengthen their knowledge on effective identification and investigation of trafficking cases within the national legal framework and to be able to hand over the skills to colleagues across the country.

All participants acknowledged the importance of the training, and the new and practical skills they gained to effectively combat trafficking in persons. One participant states: “The course helped me understand better how to manage child victim cases, how to handle suspects and how to involve specialists and other stakeholders in the process.”

The curriculum that was developed by IOM in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service, aimed to be integrated into the syllabus of the police academies and used at future trainings, being cascaded across the country.

“The continued collaboration with the Ghana Police Service and the exchanges with the police officers during the training and validation workshop reconfirmed the need of strong cooperation and coordination from all actors involved to ensure effective investigation of trafficking in persons cases and to end this scourge in the country,” says Abibatou Wane-Fall, IOM Ghana Chief of Mission.

The activities were made possible through funding from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, United States Department of State (J/TIP).

For more information, please contact Victoria Klimova at IOM Ghana at VKLIMOVA@iom.int