Non-governmental organisation, ActionAid Ghana has identified that modern slavery is more endemic in Ghana than previously thought.
It has therefore called on the state to end all forms of abuses against the citizens of Ghana by protecting their rights.
The two-year PROJECT which was funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), identified that modern slavery manifests in the form of forced labour, child labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, and unfair contract farming practices.
The project was implemented in four key regions of Oti, Northern, Upper West and Bono.
At a close-out sensitization forum in Accra, stakeholders including petty traders, widows, and farmers, etc, recounted their lifetime experiences in the hands of their abusers.
41-year-old farmer Esther Dzotefe recounted how she was forced to work under very hazardous conditions on a farm for two years for failing to repay a GHC 240.00 loan she took from her aggregators in 2019.
” I took money equivalent to two bags of maize for the planting season but the rains failed me that year and I incurred losses because of that I spent several years in the farm of the aggregator until I finished paying. Not only that, I did this with my children because I couldn’t work on the farm alone. This is not fair to us the poor people”. She narrated.
Focusing mainly on the agriculture sector, the project conducted an analysis and legal policy framework on modern slavery within the agriculture sector.
It also identified gaps and proposed solutions, policy amendments, and law enforcement.
While the meeting identified that a number of objectives have been achieved, it has also developed the capacity of communities and identifiable groups to understand modern slavery.
It has also provided alternative livelihoods for over 400 most vulnerable households to strengthen their resilience against recruitment into modern-day slavery.
Project Officer for Combating Modern Slavery Project, Daniel Kojo Nyagblordjro said, their work in Oti covered districts such as Jasikan, Nkwanta and Kejebi. He said the team identified that in some communities, some people were bonded to debt and had to settle the debt by working than normal periods to repay their loans.
Programmes manager at ActionAid, She-Vera Anzagira said the key partners on this project include; the Department of Labour, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Police, the Ghana Immigration Service, the National Peace Council and the Economic and Organised Crime Office, EOCO greatly supported in achieving the goals of the project.