Human trafficking in Ghana

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In 2009, Ghana was a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. The nonconsensual exploitation of Ghanaian citizens, particularly children, was more common than the trafficking of foreign migrants. The movement of internally trafficked children was either from rural to urban areas, or from one rural area to another, as from farming to fishing communities.^[1]

In 2009, Ghanaian boys and girls were subjected to conditions of forced labor within the country in fishing, domestic servitude, street hawking, begging, portering, and agriculture. Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation within Ghana. Internal labor traffickers were commonly freelance operators, and may have been known to members of the source community. Uninformed parents may not have understood that by cooperating with trafficking offenders, they may expose their children to bonded placement, coercion, or outright sale.^[1]

Media in 2009 cited 50 Ghanaian women recruited for work in Russia and subsequently forced into prostitution. Women and girls from China, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso were subjected to forced prostitution after arriving in Ghana. Citizens from other West African countries were subjected to forced labor in Ghana in agriculture or involuntary domestic servitude. Trafficking victims endured extremes of harsh treatment, including long hours, debt bondage, lack of pay, physical risks, and sexual abuse.^[1]

The country ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in August 2012.^[2]

The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed Ghana in "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2017^[3] and 2023.^[4]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave Ghana a score of 7 out of 10 for human trafficking.^[5]