An anti-child trafficking group in Ghana has rescued 42 children from forced labour and slavery in the country’s Lake Volta.
The not-for-profit group, Challenging Heights carried out the rescue effort over the weekend. The rescue operation was supported by Ghana’s Police Service, the Ghana Navy, the Department of Social Welfare, and its international partners, Abolish Slavery Now.
The liberated children include 4 girls and 38 boys. They are between the ages of 5 and 16.
“These rescued children were sold from communities in the Central and Greater Accra Regions to the lake for the purposes of labour exploitation.
It took the rescue team nearly two months of investigations and searching to achieve this success,” James Kofi Annan president of the group said in a statement on Monday.
“All the children would go through Rehabilitation, and subsequently be reunited with their families,” he added.
For years Challenging Heights has been in close cooperation with the Ghanaian officials and security agencies to rescue such children.
Last year, together with its partners, the group rescued 91 children made up of 74 boys and 17 girls. Those rescued were all subjected to forced labour on the Lake Volta.
The organization has so far rescued over 100 children this year.
Since its inception in 2003, it has so far rescued over 1,600 children from the Lake Volta.
Source: Africafeeds.com
