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The Winneba Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), in collaboration with the Sewa Foundation, a child�s right organisation, has intensified efforts to end child trafficking in the coastal areas within the Effutu Municipality. This is being done under a three-year project which was started last year. Survey The project followed a survey conducted by the service last year in some communities to assess the issue of child trafficking in the municipality, in order to adopt measures to combat the menace. The survey was conducted in communities namely Sankor, Fetteh, Flamingo, Worabeba, Esuakyir, Atakyedo, Penkye, Ponkor Ekyire, Abasraba and Akosua Village. It was discovered during the survey that some people living along those areas gave their children out to child traffickers after taking between GH�50 and GH�200 from the traffickers, who then sent the children to Yeji, Kpando, Adina, Keta Agavedzi and Blekusu and used them for hazardous labour. The study indicated that a typical working day in the life of trafficked children begins from 3 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. where such children are forced to engage in very challenging tasks such as casting of nets and diving to disentangle the nets, while they are served with only one meal a day. Campaign The service, as part of its three-year project to combat child trafficking within the Effutu Municipality, had organised a week-long community sensitisation programme to educate the people on the dangers of child trafficking. It involved capacity building workshops on child trafficking for members of the security agencies, assembly members, opinion leaders and pastors, as well as house-to-house outreach programmes and community video shows on child trafficking. Addressing a durbar to climax the week-long campaign, the Winneba District Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, Mrs Mary Lois Amo-Richmond, said some parents ignorantly gave out their children to traffickers with the expectation that they would provide the best of care for the children, but little did they know that they were pushing them into slavery. She said the objective of the campaign was to inform and educate the people on the negative effects of child trafficking and to alert them on the tricks and schemes used by traffickers to lure parents to send their children into �total bondage and slavery�. Call on parents She called on parents to help prevent child trafficking in the area and also ensure that they provided the best of care for their children. Mr Laud Afiriffah, Assistant Director of Immigration, said there were two major forms of trafficking, namely internal, which involved the trafficking of children to fishing and farming communities and also to work as house helps; and external, which involved trafficking children to neighbouring countries. The Omanhene of Effutu Traditional Area, Neenyi Ghartey VII, who chaired the function, appealed to parents to support efforts by the GIS to prevent child trafficking in the area.