Two groups against out-of-court settlement, Saturday, February 5, 2011, page 3
TWO human right groups have called on the Attorney-General to halt any move for an out-of-court settlement in the case of three human traffickers pending before an Accra Circuit Court.
According to Child Rights International (CRI) and the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), attempts by the accused persons — Fati Abubakari, Memuna Abubakari and Zinabu Abubakari — to compensate 10 victims of their act for an out-of-court settlement were unacceptable.
The three accused persons have been charged with 13 counts of conspiracy and human trafficking which violate sections 1 and 2 of the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694) and Section 23 of the Criminal Code, while Zinabu is facing an additional charge of procuring one of the victims from her matrimonial home in Nantom in Northern Region to Lagos in Nigeria for prostitution.
According to the facts of the case, the accused persons have allegedly been trafficking young girls from the Northern Region en route to Nigeria through Accra under the pretence of finding them jobs, only to put them into prostitution.
They then collect proceeds from the prostitution but never pay the girls for their services. Their nefarious activities were revealed when a victim who escaped four years ago reported the matter to a non-governmental organisation called the Regional Advocacy Information and Network Systems in December 2010.
Police investigations indicated that the three accused persons had been engaged in trafficking several young children for the past 10 years.
Each of the accused persons was then arrested and arraigned before the court and granted GH¢10,000 bail with a surety to reappear on February 9, 2011.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday to raise their concern over the matter, the Director of CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said CRI and the HRAC strongly condemned the out-of-court settlement.
“The conditions of compensation for the victims of child trafficking should not be on the terms of the defence, as it is now. They should be on the terms of a fair trial and prosecution in a court of law,” he stressed.
“An out-of-court settlement is not appropriate for this gross abuse of the rights of children under the Children’s Act of 1998. We, therefore, urge the Attorney-General to continue the prosecution of the accused persons in accordance with the law,” he added.
He said the two human rights groups were not actively engaged in the case in question, neither did they intend to use their professional skills to secure a reversal of any judgement made in the matter.
“Child Rights International and the HRAC consider human trafficking as a serious human and child’s right issue in West Africa and child trafficking as the worst form of human trafficking,” he stated.
Mr Appiah explained that as interested parties, “we only seek to draw attention to certain facts and points of law that are relevant to this case”.
Giving reasons for their concerns, he said the accused persons, on January 31, 2011, allegedly offered compensation to the 10 victims, out of which two of them agreed to the package offered when the case was heard.
He was quick to add that eight of the children wanted the case pursued to its logical conclusion, as well as compensation, adding, “The girls have made it clear that they are only interested in justice for the brutalities meted out to them in Nigeria by the complainants and also in being compensated for that.”
Nana Oye Lithur of the HRAC, in her remarks, said even though Section 73 of the Courts Act made room for out-of-court settlement, the same act made it clear that the gravity of the case needed to be taken into consideration, adding that the two groups would seek redress if it happened that the case found its way out of court.
According to Child Rights International (CRI) and the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), attempts by the accused persons — Fati Abubakari, Memuna Abubakari and Zinabu Abubakari — to compensate 10 victims of their act for an out-of-court settlement were unacceptable.
The three accused persons have been charged with 13 counts of conspiracy and human trafficking which violate sections 1 and 2 of the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694) and Section 23 of the Criminal Code, while Zinabu is facing an additional charge of procuring one of the victims from her matrimonial home in Nantom in Northern Region to Lagos in Nigeria for prostitution.
According to the facts of the case, the accused persons have allegedly been trafficking young girls from the Northern Region en route to Nigeria through Accra under the pretence of finding them jobs, only to put them into prostitution.
They then collect proceeds from the prostitution but never pay the girls for their services. Their nefarious activities were revealed when a victim who escaped four years ago reported the matter to a non-governmental organisation called the Regional Advocacy Information and Network Systems in December 2010.
Police investigations indicated that the three accused persons had been engaged in trafficking several young children for the past 10 years.
Each of the accused persons was then arrested and arraigned before the court and granted GH¢10,000 bail with a surety to reappear on February 9, 2011.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday to raise their concern over the matter, the Director of CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said CRI and the HRAC strongly condemned the out-of-court settlement.
“The conditions of compensation for the victims of child trafficking should not be on the terms of the defence, as it is now. They should be on the terms of a fair trial and prosecution in a court of law,” he stressed.
“An out-of-court settlement is not appropriate for this gross abuse of the rights of children under the Children’s Act of 1998. We, therefore, urge the Attorney-General to continue the prosecution of the accused persons in accordance with the law,” he added.
He said the two human rights groups were not actively engaged in the case in question, neither did they intend to use their professional skills to secure a reversal of any judgement made in the matter.
“Child Rights International and the HRAC consider human trafficking as a serious human and child’s right issue in West Africa and child trafficking as the worst form of human trafficking,” he stated.
Mr Appiah explained that as interested parties, “we only seek to draw attention to certain facts and points of law that are relevant to this case”.
Giving reasons for their concerns, he said the accused persons, on January 31, 2011, allegedly offered compensation to the 10 victims, out of which two of them agreed to the package offered when the case was heard.
He was quick to add that eight of the children wanted the case pursued to its logical conclusion, as well as compensation, adding, “The girls have made it clear that they are only interested in justice for the brutalities meted out to them in Nigeria by the complainants and also in being compensated for that.”
Nana Oye Lithur of the HRAC, in her remarks, said even though Section 73 of the Courts Act made room for out-of-court settlement, the same act made it clear that the gravity of the case needed to be taken into consideration, adding that the two groups would seek redress if it happened that the case found its way out of court.
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