Amnesty International has given GhanaWeb a thumbs-up on its latest documentary titled, Sex for Fish, that focused on a decades-long sexual exploitation problem that has teenage girls at its very core, in one of the prime communities of Cape Coast in the Central Region.

Speaking with GhanaWeb’s Etsey Atisu, who investigated the story at Ntsin, a community embedded deep in the heart of Cape Coast, Genevieve Partington, Country Director of Amnesty International Ghana, said the details were frightening.

“When I saw the excerpts of the documentary, it was quite frightening that this is what is going on,” she confessed.

She, however, was quick to add that even though the peculiar situation of teenage girls giving their bodies out for things as simple as fish at Ntsin came to them as a surprise, this is a practice that is prevalent in a lot of coastal communities.

“But it is not new; this is happening in other parts of the world… but there are laws that protect these young girls from exploitation. Under the law, it is explicitly sexual exploitation, but it’s also trafficking,” she added.

But the Ntsin community, only steps away from the iconic Cape Coast Castle, is plagued with many issues, including the absence of basic social amenities like libraries, and not a single school to enhance education.

This situation has forced young girls, particularly, into this decades-long life of exploitation.

GhanaWeb’s 'Sex for Fish' documentary explores the tight-lipped conversations about how teenage girls, in an attempt to survive, are lured into giving their young bodies out for things as simple as fish.

Sex for Fish: Cape Coast Mayor blames parental neglect for recurrent phenomenon

Perpetuated mainly by the older male fisherfolk in the Ntsin community, as well as some others from other adjoining areas, these teenage girls enter a life of early motherhood from what many believe is a failed system in protecting them.

"I was 13 years old when I gave birth… for a lot of us, we indulge in such practices because we cannot survive if we don't do it," one of the bold girls who came out to speak with GhanaWeb's Etsey Atisu said.

It is a harrowing tale of a constant problem that nobody seems to want to talk about, until now.

In this documentary, GhanaWeb explores the legalities, the failures of the system, and what the future should look like in correcting this recurrence, one that places innocent young girls at its very core.

Watch the full documentary below:





AE