Ghana’s media has been identified as fuelling human trafficking in the country, a situation that anti-traffickers have described as worrying.
According to the Crime Officer at the Tesano Police, DSP Ama Afari, the media has through the running of advertisement, become a major facilitator of human trafficking in Ghana.
“The media…has a duty to prevent human trafficking but the publications it carries in recent times on available job opportunities out of the country, like the current one in Kuwait and the Asian countries, makes it look real and enticing to the victims and a lot of people got interested,” he said.
The non-governmental organisation, Operation Mobilization Ghana, says there are 27 million modern slaves across the globe, with the majority of them from Africa and Asia.
At a workshop on human trafficking prevention, officials of OMG bemoaned how easy it has become in recent times for people to be trafficked.
Addressing participants, DSP Afari explained the desperation by some Ghanaians to travel outside for greener pastures to become what is known as ‘burgers’, has led to trafficking of many people.
She said “because of the concept of being a burger, which every Ghanaian wants to be… you find people believing” the supposed overseas job advertisement that the media broadcast.
DSP Afari has therefore encouraged various stakeholders to play their role to assist in curbing human trafficking.
Sarah A. Parku|3FM|3news.com|Ghana
