NGO renovates Volta North Police anti-human trafficking office

Our Rescue, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), that works to combat child sexual exploitation and human trafficking, has renovated an office at the Volta North Regional Police Command of the Ghana Police Service to serve as the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Command.

Before the renovation of the dilapidated office, the Volta North Police Command had no Anti-Human Trafficking Unit.

Apart from renovating the office, Our Rescue also fully set it up with furniture and equipment such as a computer and printer to the tune of $12,000.

At a ceremony to commission the new office at Hohoe in the Volta Region, the Volta North Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kofi Blagodzi, said the new office would boost efforts by the police to fight human trafficking and its associated crimes.

He said the Ghana Police Service, under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, was committed to combating crime and bringing policing to the doorsteps of the public.

Human trafficking, he said, was not only a heinous crime but also seriously violated the human rights and dignity of victims.

“Human trafficking affects millions of people worldwide, and it is a crime that exploits the vulnerable, destroys lives and undermines collective humanity,” he said.

The Country Manager of Our Rescue, Fred Akweter, said the NGO was a global entity headquartered in the United States (US) with a presence in 27 countries, with a mission to fight child sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

“Our Rescue also works with the police to rescue survivors of sex trafficking and human trafficking. We do recognise that under the law, it is the law enforcement agencies, specifically, the police that have the mandate to fight human trafficking and all other crime types and, therefore, we support the work that they do,” Mr Akweter said.

The Middle East and African Regional Director of Our Rescue, Richard Morley, described human trafficking as modern-day slavery, which turned people, especially children, into commodities, leading to unimaginable suffering of victims.

“Victims are sold, given away, abused and suffer horrific things. Bad people are doing bad things against our children, brothers and sisters, and we must continue with the fight,” he said.

Mr Morley said Our Rescue was committed to combating the menace to help humanity, adding “We will not turn our backs on survivors or any request for help”. For his part, the Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Superintendent William Ayariga, expressed gratitude to Our Rescue for the continuous support it had offered to the unit over the years.

Such support, he said, had been crucial in crime prevention, detection, apprehension and prosecution of offenders of human trafficking.