The United States government says Ghanaian women are being forced into prostitution and forced labour in foreign countries, particularly in the Middle East.
According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2013, Ghanaian women migrating to the Middle East to work are forced into prostitution upon their arrival.
As France commemorated the 150th anniversary of its abolition of slavery, modern forms are regularly surfacing.
Sylvie O'Dy, president of the Committee Against Modern Slavery, said 122 people were freed from bondage last year in France and she believes that figure is the tip of the iceberg.
The brave young Nigerian woman who survived abuse in the hands of her adoptive parents and later wrote a book about the experience speaks about moving on with her life.
Tina Okpara's memoir, now translated into English, talks about her five-year journey from a loving yet poor childhood in Nigeria to the ordeal of modern day slavery in wealthy, suburban Paris.
She was only 13 when celebrity footballer, Godwin Okpara and his wife Linda, lured her father into giving her up for a supposedly better life in Europe.
Various estimates show 15000 children and adults are trafficked in and out of France every year.
By Aodhán Ó Faoláin and Ray Managh
A Nigerian mother-of-three wanted in France in connection with an investigation into trafficking and forcing young women into prostitution, as well as money-laundering, has been brought before the High Court.
Experts who took part in the panel discussion, believe that law enforcement effort to curb the human trafficking needs to be coupled with extensive media coverage.
The Albanian man had befriended Sophie five years before she went to Italy for what should have been a week’s holiday, but turned out to be six months.
