Fifteen Ghanaians who were among many others recruited for various job placements in the Middle East country of Kuwait but ended up being sold as slaves have been rescued and brought to their land of birth.
The personnel, all young women, whose ages were immediately not known, safely arrived in Accra last night, courtesy a collaboration of the Government of Ghana and a Non-Governmental Organisation, SEWA.
Reports from the Middle East suggest that Ghanaians, mostly women, who are recruited and promised various jobs ranging from househelp to to hotel assistants are forced into prostitution upon arrival.
Those in connection to the recruitment exercise often referred to as agents, are paid GH₵7,500.00 per head.
Mary Oppong, who was part of the rescued, told Akwasi Nsia in an interview on Kasapa 102.3 FM Saturday that she was promised a baby sitter job but upon arrival in Kuwait, was sold into slavery for an amount of GH₵7,500 in a town called Kadama.
According to her, when one is sold, he or she is medically examined but unfortunately for her, it was detected she was pregnant and therefore declared unfit for the kind of job her new master was going to assign to her.
But to her surprise, she was put into prison for three months until the Government of Ghana and SEWA came to her rescue.
She is therefore appealing to the Government to institute measures to clamp down on agents who recruit innocent Ghanaians into slavery in the Middle East.
The United States Government’s Trafficking in Persons Report, 2015, points Ghana as a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.
It revealed that there was an increase in the number of young Ghanaian women recruited with the promise of domestic or hospitality industry jobs in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.
However, after their return many of them reported being deceived, overworked, starved, abused, molested, and/or forced into prostitution. Ghanaian men were also recruited under false pretenses to the Middle East and subjected to forced labor in the domestic sector and forced prostitution.
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
