Accra, May 13, GNA - The Representative of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ghana, Dr. Iyabode Olusanmi, on Friday congratulated the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, the anti-human trafficking unit, and the Department of Social Welfare for protecting the rights of some children.

The Ministry and organisations released 116 trafficked children from forced labour on the Volta Lake and for swiftly prosecuting the perpetrators of the crime.

"I am thrilled that these children will now be able to return to the love and care of their families," she said in a statement issued by UNICEF in Accra.

"However, we must remember that it is often poverty that drives children into the arms of traffickers. All of us must do everything within our power to eliminate the grinding poverty that is an accomplice to child trafficking," she added.

Dr Olisanmi said removing children from their families, forcing them to work in exploitative conditions, and depriving them of the opportunity to go to school were terrible crimes to commit against a child.

"The arrest and prosecution of these criminals indicates the importance that Ghana attaches to its international commitments and domestic legislation regarding the rights of children."

The statement said UNICEF supported the Government of Ghana in this inter-agency sting operation and would continue to provide technical and financial assistance to rehabilitate and re-integrate the children, and to reduce child labour and child trafficking in Ghana.