C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Ghana.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how
some succeed in leaving. Perhaps your
paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving. Other factors of interest might be poverty,
rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect,
etc. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this
activity. There is a lot to the
subject of Child Prostitution. Scan
other countries as well as this one.
Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or
regions. Meanwhile, check out some of
the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** MPs Condemn Baby
Prostitutes Sylvanus Nana Kumi, Daily Guide,
14 Mar 2008 www.modernghana.com/news/160195/1/mps-condemn-baby-prostitutes.html [accessed 16 May
2011] “Some of these
young people, aged between 15 and 24 and mostly illiterates, engage in
unprotected sex with different sexual partners for money to, among others,
fend for themselves. “Among them are
children as young as 10 to 14 years old. A number of these vulnerable
children end up being raped and becoming teenage mothers or acquiring
sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS,” said Ms. Dansua. The MP, a former journalist, was worried
that Ghana was gradually gaining notoriety as a destination for child
prostitution, a dent in the country’s international image, and condemned in
no uncertain terms the proliferation of brothels in most parts of the
country. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] Sephra Smith, ECPAT
International, 2014 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/A4A2011_AF_GHANA_FINAL2.pdf [accessed 30 August
2020] Desk review of
existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in Ghana.
The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures,
child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for
action against SEC. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/ghana/ [accessed 30 August
2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law prohibits commercial sexual exploitation of
children. Authorities did not effectively enforce the law. The minimum age
for consensual sex is 16, and participating in sexual activities with anyone
under this age is punishable by imprisonment for seven to 25 years. The law
criminalizes the use of a computer to publish, produce, procure, or possess
child pornography, punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years, a fine of
up to 5,000 penalty units (60,000 cedis or
$11,500), or both. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 30 August
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 544] The law prohibits
commercial sexual exploitation of children. Authorities did not effectively
enforce the law. The minimum age for consensual sex is 16, and participating
in sexual activities with anyone under this age is punishable by imprisonment
for seven to 25 years. The law criminalizes the use of a computer to publish,
produce, procure, or possess child pornography, punishable by imprisonment
for up to 10 years, a fine of up to 5,000 penalty units (60,000 cedis or $11,500), or both. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 6 June 1997 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/ghana1997.html [accessed 6 February
2011] [26] The Committee
is concerned by the absence of information and data concerning sexual abuse
and exploitation, including in the family. In this regard, it is also worried
about the fact that children aged between 14 and 18 years do not benefit from
appropriate legal and social protection measures. MOWAC to ensure
implementation of laws on women and children www.modernghana.com/news/216811/1/mowac-to-ensure-implementation-of-laws-on-women-an.html [accessed 16 May
2011] She noted that
parenting must be taken seriously in the country to help curb the involvement
of children and the youth in social vices which include child prostitution,
armed robbery and cyber fraud. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings,
President and Founder of the 31st December Women's Movement complained about
the increase in immorality among the youth and called on women to properly
take up the task of morally educating their children. She said instead of cautioning their
children against such acts, some mothers rather encourage their children,
especially girls into child prostitution as they compare them to others who
they regarded as being successful. Child Sex Market in
Masahudu Ankiilu
Kunateh, Ghanadot, www.ghanadot.com/social_scene.feature.kunateh.sextrade.012209.html [accessed 16 May
2011] Abena (real name
withheld) is fourteen years old and lives with her mother in a kiosk around Adabraka, a suburb of the capital of They also added
that they do not like repeating the act because they believe it sometimes
leads to familiarity and the tendency for the client to ask for free sex. Abena says she got into the business because her mother could
not pay for her school fees and other expenses which led her to drop-out from
the school. Indeed, life has
not been smooth sailing for the family. She therefore though it's prudent to
engage in the 'night life' to make things easier for the family. Abena points out that sometimes she make about GH¢100.00
per night, but this not adequate to share with her mother and five siblings
and also save part for rainy days. Also, she needs to keep her appearances
beautifully to attract more customers. Commentary: Child
Prostitution Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation, July 26, 2008 [access information
unavailable] Dozens alleged
child prostitutes in A factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation in The dignity of a
woman Helena Selby -
Ghanaian Chronicle, 22 Jul 2008 www.modernghana.com/lifestyle/384/16/the-dignity-of-a-woman.html [accessed 16 May
2011] Child prostitution,
in most instances, takes place among teenage girls engaged in businesses such
as the sale secondhand clothing, kayayos,
hairdressing and petty trading as a means of survival. Some of them, due to
their not getting sufficient money from their businesses at the end of the
day, resort to prostitution at night, to supplement their meager incomes.
They mostly live in ramshackle structures. According Rebecca,
a hairdresser who refused to mention her second name, since she had nobody to
support her, during her apprenticeship, prostitution was the only
alternative. According to her, she was only 16 years, and fortunately for
her, her clients do not realize it due to her developed body. Intense
business really begins at 10:00 p.m. and she charges between GH¢3 and GH¢5,
when she really works well, however she reduces the price to GH¢2 when
business is not going well. For Mary, a
secondhand clothes seller, who also withheld her second name, since she was
still in the business, she sometimes goes in for gang sex. Gang sex occurs
when one decides to go to bed with two or more men at a time. According to
her, this process pays more, and that though she suffers terribly, she
prefers it than taking one at a time, which pays very little. According to both
Rebecca and Mary, the use of contraceptives is out of the question, as apart
from they wanting it that way, their clients most times prefer it that way. MPs: AMA must
demolish ‘soldier bar’, other brothels Cynthia Boakye , The Statesman, 18/06/2008 www.modernghana.com/news/170385/1/mps-ama-must-demolish-soldier-bar-other-brothels.html [accessed 13
Aug 2013] The Greater Accra
Region alone is said to be housing about 125 brothels in which girl prostitutes
who fall within the ages of 12 and 16 conduct brisk businesses at night. These girls are said to be servicing about
20 male clients per night at a charge of GH¢3.00 for every three minutes
spent at one of the most notorious brothels known as the 'Soldier Bar'. A
similar practice is also going on at other places in the capital city of
Accra. Child Prostitutes
are Children First Shira Rubin, Public
Agenda, allafrica.com/stories/200805090743.html [partially accessed
17 May 2011 - access restricted] In January of this
year the popular brothel known as "Soldier Bar," at Kwame Nkrumah
Circle in Accra, was raided, followed by the arrest of more than 160 mostly
teenage prostitutes. Although the women taken into custody were registered into
rehabilitation programs, today they are now back on the streets. 60 of the
160 confessed to being younger than 16; evidence of the need to end an
activity that has been traditionally regarded with heavy silence. In battles
against the hypocritical stigmas and medical dangers suffered by these young
girls, legalization and unionization have been proposed in intellectual and
political circles as a possible solution. UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/77389/ghana-response-to-thriving-child-sex-industry-too-weak [accessed 13 March
2015] The targets of the
raid, which took place in February, were the 60 girls among them who were
aged under 16 who had been recruited according to
brothel manager Matthew Abanga to service the
brothel's teenage clients. "We drove the
[young boys] away initially and did not allow them to come here, but after a
while we realised we could make more money if we
can meet their demands by supplying them with younger prostitutes of the same
age, so we started recruiting child prostitutes as well," he said. With an estimated 20, 000 children on the
streets of Accra, many already engaged in child labour,
Abanga and the owners of the brothel did not find
it difficult recruiting child sex workers. "We knew it was wrong but the
money was good," Abanga told IRIN. CHRAJ says child
prostitution is a threat to the nation Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation February 7, 2008 [access information
unavailable] The Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has expressed concern over the
spate of child prostitution, saying that, the alarming situation where Teenage girls
recruited for sex in Kumasi? Network Herald, 11
December 2007 news.myjoyonline.com/news/200712/11226.asp [accessed 16 May
2011] The Garden city Ghanaian minister
is on a mission The Commonwealth
Times, November 5th, 2007 www.commonwealthtimes.org/?p=7887 [accessed 16 May
2011] Ama, 15, lives in Wisdom Dzidedi Donkor, Public Agenda, allafrica.com/stories/200711051563.html [partially accessed
15 August 2011 - access restricted] GHANA SITUATION - Eventhough Iam not aware of any
current figure of the above in Ghana, the Ghanaian situation seems to be of no
difference to the US and other countries as it is no secret at all to find
hundreds of children ranging between the ages of 12 and 18 converging at
places like Kwame Nkrumah Circle (Kotobabi trotro station, near Freddies
Corner), Soldier bar, Abeka Lapaz
(Double man spot) Kasoa (Behind the public toilet
off the Obom road), Newtown, Cantonments several
other places by 7.30pm invloved in Child
prostitution. Committee on child
labour, trafficking inaugurated mobile.ghanaweb.com/wap/article.php?ID=130307 [accessed 6 February
2011] A 21-member
steering committee for an International Labour Organisation (ILO) project on
combating child labour and trafficking was inaugurated in Dr. Slyvester Sakyiamah, Executive
Director of the Social Research Associates, said the Kumasi Metropolis had
become the destination for most of the children trafficked from the Upper
West, Upper East, Northern regions and other parts the country. He said the
children were found to be cart pushers, bar-keepers, head porters, hawkers
and domestic servants among other exploitative jobs. Dr. Sakyiamah
said due to the nature of the work they engaged in, the lack of shelter and
better conditions of life, some of them become street children, who were
easily lured into robbery, drug peddling, child prostitution resulting in socio-economic problems. Northern, Upper
East & West Are the Suppliers of Street Kids in Oppong Baah,
Public Agenda, This article has
been archived by World Street Children News and may possibly still be
accessible [here] [accessed 16 May
2011] On a good day a
porter can earn between ¢ 30, 000 and ¢ 50, 000. On bad days, however, a
porter has to fall on a colleague to have something to eat. The girls are
compelled to satisfy the sexual desires of their male counterparts to get
food to eat. Due to such instances a number of young girls become pregnant and
have to go back home. Poverty in Reporter: Prue
Clarke, Transcript from PM, Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC, 13
October 2005 https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1481873.htm [accessed 16 May
2011] In the West African
nation of Ama's story is typical.
Children are driven from home by the effects of poverty. With no education, no money and no
protection from violence, almost all of Ghana's street girls, and a growing
number of boys, are left no choice but to sell themselves. - sccp Who is to Blame for
Our Youth On the Streets? Joe Kingsley Eyiah, www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=41059 [accessed 16 May
2011] TYPES OF STREET
YOUTH
- 2. About ninety-five percent (95%) of street youth come under the category
of homeless. In Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – ECPAT: What Makes
Children Vulnerable to Sexual Exploitation? ECPAT International At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 14
September 2011] HARMFUL
TRADITIONS OR CUSTOMS
- In some countries, sexual exploitation of children is thinly disguised as
religious practice. In Child
labor prevails in afrol News (African News
Agency), 31 October 2001 www.afrol.com/News2001/gha007_child_labour.htm [accessed 16 May
2011] Child prostitution
also exists, although prohibited by law, according to the IFCTU report.
"Young Ghanaian girls are lured into prostitution by promises of work as
domestic servants. GAMBIA-GHANA:
Sex slave children trafficked by Ghanaian fishermen UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/48765/ghana-gambia-sex-slave-children-trafficked-by-ghanaian-fishermen [accessed 13 March
2015] Gambian authorities
said this week they were questioning a group of 63 Ghanaian children, most of
whom were girls who had been trafficked into the country for use as “sex
slaves” and unpaid domestic servants. Immigration officials said on Wednesday
that they had cracked a child trafficking ring that was bringing in the teenagers
into the country illegally to work for a community of Ghanaian fishermen
living on the coast. Information about
Street Children - This report is taken
from “A Civil Society Forum for Anglophone West Africa on Promoting and
Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 21-24 October 2003, At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 16 May
2011] CONSTRAINTS AND
CHALLENGES
- Girls are less likely than boys to have any form of education, are known to
be less aware than boys about sexually transmitted diseases, despite their
increasing involvement in commercial sex work. This puts them at risk of
contracting HIV/AIDS and of unwanted pregnancy, which helps to explain the
large numbers of second-generation babies born on the street to parents who
are themselves street children The
Alternative Africa: Street Children in The International
Child And Youth Care Network CYC, Issue 25, • February 2001 www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0201-shanahan2.html [accessed 16 May
2011] SURVIVAL
- The
girl children have to adopt extra survival strategies. Once the age of
puberty has been reached many of them will have boy minders who will demand
sexual favors as payment for protection. Many small girls will use sex for
survival in terms of supplementing their income. It is too easy to call them
prostitutes. A prostitute is for me a professional sex worker. A 14-year old
who offers sex for food and a few shillings to buy a length of cloth is not a
prostitute. The
www.waafweb.org/about_us.htm [Last access date
unavailable] Preliminary
research studies has been conducted by WAAF on the most recent phenomenon of
Child Sex Tourism which understudies child and youth exposure to HIV/AIDS
through labor participation (i.e. Child Prostitution) in the Tourism
industry. Findings confirmed our suspicions that STI’s are a common
occurrence among sexually active children. Continuous research will be
undertaken to ascertain the underlying causes, in order to find tangible
solutions to protect the health interest of children exposed to early
commercial sexual exploitation ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** ECPAT Global
Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial exploitation of
children - GHANA [PDF] ECPAT International,
2008 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/AF/Global_Monitoring_Report-GHANA.pdf [accessed 16 May
2011] In addition to Kayayes, the ILO study found girls, some as young as 11,
exploited through prostitution in Accra brothels as well as on streets,
beaches, bars, market areas, restaurants and nightclubs. They sometimes organise themselves into groups and select a “queen
mother” – who could be as young as 16 – to facilitate their prostitution for
a commission. If the group operates from a bar, restaurant or nightclub,
employees at these establishments also act as agents and receive a
commission. Not only Ghanaian children are found in prostitution, as the
study identified approximately 200 girls, some aged as young as nine, from
all over West Africa in Accra brothels. The ILO study also
looked into child sex tourism, which takes place predominantly in coastal areas
in Accra. Boys and girls are affected, and it was discovered that staff in
certain hotels receive a commission for recommending “rent boys”, some as
young as 12, to hotel residents. Another study,
undertaken in 2006 by the Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child
(GNCRC), the ECPAT group in the country, further indicated that Ghana is
earning a reputation on paedophile websites as a
‘safe’ destination for child sex. It pointed to high rates of sexual
exploitation of boys in tourism, particularly in the central region of Ghana.
The situation seems to have worsened dramatically, as formerly the children
(mainly boys) were enticed into sexual acts, while local boys deliberately
hang around hotels and guesthouses soliciting foreign tourists. Members of
the Coalition witnessed boys in Cape Coast handing out ‘business cards’ to
tourists looking for sex. Apparently, 70 per cent of their clients were
males, while 30 per cent were females. These include locals and Africans
(from the sub-region); mention was made of Ghanaians, Nigerians and
Liberians. Those outside the sub-region were cited as coming from China, the
Americas and Europe. The sexual exploitation of boys by tourists and locals
is often overlooked due to Ghanaian society’s deep aversion to homosexuality,
and child victims usually refuse to make reports to the authorities due to
fear of stigmatisation. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/ghana.htm [accessed 6 February
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are reports of children being given away,
leased, or sold by their parents to work in various sectors. Children were
also reportedly sold into involuntary servitude for either labor or sexual exploitation.
Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61572.htm [accessed 9 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
- Child prostitution was a problem. The ILO/IPEC organized workshops
throughout the year on the problem of increased child prostitution in the
tourism industry and to combat the problem. During the year a government
minister told hotel administrators to prevent adults from bringing children
to hotels for sexual exploitation. All material
used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for
noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - |
