Crime in Ghana is investigated by the Ghana Police Service.
Ghana had a murder rate of 1.68 per 100,000 population in 2011. [1]
Ghana is a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. [2] The nonconsensual exploitation of Ghanaian citizens, particularly children, is more common than the trafficking of foreign migrants. [2] The movement of internally trafficked children is either from rural to urban areas, or from one rural area to another, as from farming to fishing communities. [2]
Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to conditions of forced labor within Ghana in fishing, domestic servitude, street hawking, begging, portering, and agriculture. [2] Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation within Ghana. [2]
Women and girls from China, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso have been subjected to forced prostitution after arriving in Ghana. [2] Citizens from other West African countries are subjected to forced labor in Ghana in agriculture or involuntary domestic servitude. [2] Trafficking victims endure extremes of harsh treatment, including long hours, debt bondage, lack of pay, physical risks, and sexual abuse. [2]
Domestic violence is prevalent in Ghana, [3] owing in part to a deep cultural belief that it is socially acceptable for men to discipline their wives physically. [4] [5] [6] [7] Around one in three women in Ghana experience domestic violence. [8]
In 2007 the Ghanaian government created the Domestic Violence Act in an attempt to reduce violence against women. [9] The act encountered significant resistance from cultural conservatives and local religious leaders who believed that such a law would undermine traditional African values, and that Western values were being implemented into law. [10] [11] [12]
Galamseyers are illegal gold miners. [13] Their activities have depleted Ghana's forest cover and caused water pollution, due to the crude and unregulated nature of the mining process. [13] In 2017, Operation Vanguard was launched to curb illegal artisanal mining in Ghana.
Sakawa is a Ghanaian term for illegal practices which combine modern Internet-based fraud with African traditionalist rituals. [14] The rituals, which are mostly in the form of sacrifices, are intended to spiritually manipulate victims so that the scammer's fraud is successful. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
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