The Scoop

 

 

Akwaaba! I am in Ghana for the summer working for a global human rights organization. Here's the SCOOP!

 

The Basics:

Who: International Justice Mission

What: Global team of lawyers, social workers, and 
      investigators

When: Founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen

Where: 18 Field Offices in Africa, Latin America, and Asia

Why:  Inspired by God's call to love all and seek justice

How: Partnering with local authorities to:

• Rescue Victims
• Bring criminals to justice
• Restore survivors
• Strengthen justice systems   

 

Throughout the developing world, the threat of violence is part of everyday life for the poor.  The poorest are so vulnerable because their justice systems don't protect them from violent people.

Here in Ghana, IJM is working specifically on cases of forced child labor/ slavery in the fishing industry on Lake Volta. 


The largest man-made lake in the world, Lake Volta's shoreline is 33,554 miles and is home to 1,232 fishing villages constituted primarily of impoverished rural communities. The National Fisheries Association of Ghana estimates that 80,000 fishers and 20,000 fish processors and traders work on or near the lake. 
 
According to a Ghana Statistical Service study, tens of thousands of children work on Lake Volta. In 2013, IJM investigators spent weeks undercover-- documenting the harsh conditions that children as young as four endure.  They found that as many as 60% of the boys they came into contact with were slaves.  Many of the boys had been trafficked from villages hours away. 

"It quickly became quite easy--and heartbreaking-- to spot the boys who were being held as slaves," one Senior Investigator remarked. 

"The boys held as slaves wore torn, dirty and ragged clothing. Many wore no clothes at all—nothing. Most of these boys had distended stomachs, skin diseases, hair falling out, and open sores and wounds. Some were openly crying as we approached. Others looked completely exhausted and their eyes, vacant of emotion." To read the Investigator's reflections, click here.

So how EXACTLY does IJM combat forced labor slavery?

We will rescue children from slavery in the fishing industry by

helping law enforcement locate children being held as slaves, and will work with Ghanaian police and anti-trafficking forces to rescue them and bring them to a safe place.

 

We will bring criminals to justice by supporting law enforcement

partners to collect evidence and by assisting public prosecutors as
they take traffickers and criminals to trial for slavery crimes under Ghanaian law.

We will restore survivors by helping them heal from the trauma and

finding a safe place where they can thrive—either back home with
their families or in a shelter where they will receive an education
or training. We will work with aftercare providers and other NGOs already on the ground.
  

We will strengthen justice systems by equipping Ghana’s antihuman

trafficking unit and law enforcement agencies to investigate and
respond to child trafficking, and strengthening the coordination
between law enforcement and social services that is essential to successfully prosecuting traffickers.
 

IJM has completed one operation already. Stay tuned for that story...

 In the meantime, here is a "must see" TEDtalk:
"The hidden reason for poverty that the world needs to address now" by Gary Haugen, IJM President and CEO (with over 1 million views).

                     
                 

 alayna.