The Ghanaian National Youth Policy recognizes sports and recreation as key to national integration and overall well-being of the individual. For this reason, sport is an important mechanism for community and national development in Ghana. However, the area of sports has been characterized by episodes of human trafficking, where young individuals find themselves in situations of exploitation or migrate irregularly with the hope of pursuing opportunities in football or other sports clubs outside of their home country. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), more than 15,000 children are trafficked from West Africa into Europe every year, many with false hopes of making it as professional footballers [1].
To contribute to the Government of Ghana's efforts to address human trafficking in sports, particularly among youth, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, with funding from the IOM Development Fund, is supporting the government to improve the evidence base on sports and trafficking and expandon regular pathways for youth in sport. Towards this end, the project has successfully created a Technical Working Group (TWG) on sports and trafficking and currently conduct a gender-sensitive baseline research report on human trafficking in sports in Ghana, inclusive of a mapping of regular sports pathways which will inform the development of a communications strategy and contibute to to awareness raising on sports-related human trafficking targeting youth and vulnerable communities.
The strategy will leverage key lessons from the baseline assessment on sports and trafficking and develop a strategy for how best to ocommunicate the risks related to sports trafficking, particularly identifying perpetrators. Furthermore, it will promote the regular pathways available for youth