Crime in Ghana is investigated by the Ghana Police Service.
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Crime by type
Murder
Ghana had a murder rate of 1.68 per 100,000 population in 2011.[1]
Corruption
Human trafficking
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
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]
Illegal mining
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.
Fraud
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]