By Mavis Offei Acheampong
Fishing communities in the Central Region of Ghana have seen an increase in teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS infections as fishermen and family members lure girls into transactional sex for fish.
Transactional sex involves exchanging sex for material support or other benefits, but where children are involved, it is child sexual exploitation because children cannot give consent.
In the Central Region, this has taken the form of coercing girls into sex in exchange for fish to meet basic needs. Most rural fishing communities are poor as a result of improper education and income.
In places like the Cape Coast and Elmina in the Central Region, adolescent girls and boys are prone to exploitation due to lack of knowledge of their rights and inability to make informed choices. They are exposed to abuse as they fend for themselves and their families.
One such case of abuse is a practice termed ‘Sex for Fish’. It is a form of transactional sex where girls are coerced into engaging in unprotected sex in exchange for fish.
They then sell the fish to cater for themselves and their families’ needs. The fishermen are reported to give girls half a bucket of fish, a polythene bag full of fish, or twenty pieces of fish in exchange for sex. Aside from the fact that the girls voluntarily do this as a means of survival, there are instances where their parents push them into it after negotiating at their blindsight because they want to use it as a coping mechanism to deal with the economic challenges and the survival of their families.
The team leader for International Needs Ghana, an NGO, a Child Rights Program under UNFPA, Mr. Isaac Arthur said, “this has been going on for sometime even before we started the intervention. As part of our intervention, we were able to uncover some of these issues.”
Poverty is to blame for this exploitation, and research shows that in areas with food insecurity and poverty, and where women are dependent on men for sustenance, there is a risk of such sex exploitation. In such instances, there is a need for interventions to protect vulnerable girls.
Mr. Isaac Arthur said such acts should never be encouraged, no matter the poverty level of a family.
“A number of these girls do not even know that they haven’t attained the ages where they have to consent to sex or not, and that is one of the major reasons we need to continue to sensitise the community. A number of factors continue to drive this ‘sex for fish’ activity, and if we don’t look at these other factors and only keep poverty in the look, it will look very deceptive in trying to just address the poverty and not consider the other socio-economic factors. There is also ignorance on the part of parents who do not even know that what they are engaging themselves in is against the law and it’s a form of abuse to their own adolescent girls.”
A 14-year-old Adwo Atta, not her real name, was lured into the ‘Sex for fish’ practise because her parents could not afford her school fees. She fell into the hands of a fisherman who gave her bowls of fish to sell in exchange for sex. She got pregnant and dropped out of school.
“I did not know it would happen this way. I really wanted to go to school, but my parents were unable to afford the school fees, and I had to sell the fish to fend for my education. I feel bad for being pregnant,” she said.
Mr. Isaac Authur said perpetrators of such acts should be arrested and prosecuted.
“A number of the girls have not even attained the age of consent for sex legally and that is even more criminal. Per the laws of our country, an adolescent girl who has not attained the age of 16 years and has anything to do with a boy or a man of any age is term as defilment, and so most of these girls who are living in these communities have been defiled per the definition. However, the perpetrators of these criminal acts are walking free, and this is not good for the country.
Statistics from the District Health Directorate of Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, one of the districts in the Central Region where this practice is common, show that a total of 433 girls aged between 10 and 19 years got pregnant from January to December in 2021. Between 2016 and 2020, more than half a million girls aged 10 to 19 years became pregnant. An average of more than 111,000 teen pregnancies per year. Of all the teen pregnancies during this period, more than 13,400 are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Mr. Isaac Authur said that education and support for girls in these communities can minimise the worrying trend. He said the Adolescent Health “Safe Space Initiative” funded by UNICEF and UNFPA has been initiated in some fishing communities in the Central Region to support girls who are sexually abused.
The “Safe Space Initiative” in fishing communities has targeted both the in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls through education, community engagement and advocacy on their sexual rights.
“We have content material we share with these adolescent girls at the meeting that addresses the issues. We educate them on their sexual reproductive rights and health, and when to say no to sexual advances and offers that come to them. In terms of sexual abuse and defilment, they should report them. These engagements have made them very assertive. They are empowered now to say no, empowered now to report any attempt by any man or boy in the community to either offer them fish or any other form of commodity in terms of money in exchange for sex, and that has really helped. A number have been reported and investigated as well. Most of the out-of-school girls are free and available, and as a result, we have enrolled them in school after a series of counselling and engaged others in apprenticeships. This has contributed to their being taken away from the effects of abuses they may face in their various communities.”
Traditionally, rapists are named and shamed, and in some instances, ostracised from the community. However, many of the survivors are reluctant to name the perpetrators and opt to resolve the matter “privately”.
This, according to the Queen Mother of the Ningo Traditional Area, Naana Dubakowor Duga II, should not happen. She entreated young girls to stand up for their rights any time they are abused and cautioned parents not to push their children into sex in exchange for basic needs.
“Today he will sleep with you and give you the money. Tomorrow he will sleep with another and give her money. He can even infect you with a disease. The fact that you haven’t been to school, the fact that your mother can not take you to school, does not mean you can not do anything meaningful or learn a trade. You can do something for yourself to save yourself and the community.”
Ghana is no exception to the ‘Sex for Fish’ practice, as fishing communities in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia also engage in this practice. The underlying factors are poverty and the lack of knowledge and protection of the rights of adolescent girls.
Stakeholders and organisations under UNFPA are working to ensure the total elimination of the manace of sex for fish. The article was produced as part of the WA GBV Reporting Fellowship with support from the Africa Women’s Journalism Project (AWJP) in partnership with the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) through the support of the Ford Foundation.
