Twenty-three child slaves have been rescued from the Volta Lake in the Volta region.

The recued children were 17 boys and six girls aged between six and 16 years.

Challenging Height, an NGO that led the rescue operation, says, the children who work day and night on the Volta Lake, have been sexually abused and are suffering from one disease or the other.

At a news conference at Winneba in the Central Region, CEO of Challenging Height, James Kofi Annan, called on the Police to help arrest the perpetrators.

He also called on government to fashion out ways to put a halt to the abuses of Ghanaian children on the Volta Lake.

Mr Kofi Annan said it took the organisation nearly three months of investigations and search to be able to rescue the 23 children.

He noted that they faced a lot of opposition during the rescue process, but bringing them freedom is what has brought them joy.

“All these 23 children we have rescued were working on the Lake Volta; the girls as domestics and sexually abused, while the boys were used for fishing.

"They all endured various abuses such as working an average of 15 hours a day, and sometimes nights, mental and physical torture, and starvation,” he stated.

He further revealed that “Every one of the 23 children is suffering from one disease or the other, including bilharzia, Hepatitis B, Syphilis, skin diseases, ear and foot rots, and so on.”

There are an estimated 40 million people, including children and adults, caught up in slavery globally.  Researchers estimate that traffickers make over $150 billion in unlawful profits every year.

In Ghana, there are estimated over 133,000 people who are victims of slavery (Global Slavery Index, 2018).

It is estimated that there are over 20,000 children affected by slave labour on Lake Volta alone (ILO, 2013). So, slavery exists, and child slavery exists on Lake Volta.

James Kofi Annan explains how the traffickers of the children have become emboldened, making rescues too daunting.

“There have been several times in the past that we had to flee some communities, resulting in traffickers fleeing with victims,” he said.

He thanked the security agencies and the Department of Social Welfare for their leadership and commitment to the fight against child trafficking in Ghana.

It would be recalled that Challenging Heights announced in their 2021 report, that they had rescued a total of 153 children from slavery and human trafficking on Lake Volta last year. 

“This has brought the total number of children rescued by the organization in our 17 years of existence, to nearly 1,700,” he added.