Policy Frame Work Needed To Halt Child Labour

The future leaders of the country precisely, Priests, Pastors, Engineers, Lawyers, Journalists, Medical Doctors and other professionals would be having along way to go as about two million Ghanaian children are engaged in various forms of child labour.

These children who engage in various sectors of the economy including commercial, agriculture, fishing, weaving, mining, truck pushing, pottery and illegal mining (galamsey) under all circumstances are supposed to be in the classroom.

Their activities in a way could be equated to the slave trade in the ancient day Ghana after 200 years of the abolishing of slave trade in Africa. As humanitarian sentiments grew in Western Europe with the Age of Enlightenment and the growth of religious groups and as European economic interests shifted slowly from agriculture to industry, a movement grew to abolish the slave trade and the practice of slavery.

In 1807, the slave trade was outlawed in Britain and the United States. Britain outlawed the practice of slavery in all British territory in 1833; France did the same in its colonies in 1848. In 1865 the US government ended slavery. The Atlantic slave trade continued, however, until 1888, when Brazil abolished slavery.

But, all over the world today, children's rights, protection and welfare are very important component of all nations' human capital development. The success story of any government depends on her commitment towards social development policies, addressing the needs of young people. Ghana is a leader in children's welfare and protection. In the world, Ghana was the first country to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Hence, a comprehensive Act 560 for the protection of children in Ghana.

In West and Central Africa, it is acknowledged that Agricultural fields, gold and diamond mines, stone quarry, informal sector and domestic work are activities with high child labour force.

Even though we are in the 21st century, child labour continues to deprive thousands of individuals especially; children. This is why the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 adopted the convention on the rights of the child. Within ten years, 191 countries had ratified it, making it most widely ratified human rights instrument in history.

Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989, ratified by 191 countries, states that every child (anyone under 18) 'has the right to be protected from work that threatens his or her health, education or development'.

The CRC also states that every child has a right to education. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour, 1999, ratified by 136 countries, prohibits the most extreme forms of child labour that involve children being enslaved, held in bondage, separated from their families, or exposed to serious hazards and illnesses.

ILO Convention 138 on minimum age at work 1973, ratified 123 countries, sets age limits for different types of work but millions of children still work for long hours on plantations in and or in factories in the world.

Unfortunately, some children aged between five and 17 years in Ghana prefer to be involved in working in the various sectors mentioned above than being in school. It is sad that in the history of globalization, many Ghanaian children are deprived of education and forced into a life of misery and poverty. In Ghana, however children constitute 52% (0-18 years) of the population

On many occasions, Ghanaian Rights Organisations including an Accra-based Legal Resource Centre has warned that, despite efforts to fight child labour in the country, around 20 percent of the nation's children are engaged in labour. The problem is a lack of sufficient labour inspectors, or inspectors doing a poor job, they hold. An estimated total of 1,273,294 - or 20 percent - of all children in Ghana are engaged in child labour, and 242,047 of those are in hazardous forms of child labour.

According to The Legal Resources Centre more and better labour inspectors must be put in place to address the problem. "We either need a far greater number of labour inspectors or the current labour inspectors must do a better job. The status quo is unacceptable. Labour inspectors must be made accountable. When problems continue to exist in regions, the labour inspectors of those specific areas must be evaluated and held accountable."

The government of Ghana has passed several laws and signed a number of treaties to guard against exploitative forms of child labour. Article 28 of the 1992 Constitution prohibits labour that is considered injurious to the health, education, or development of the child. Ghana has also signed three key international treaties that ban certain practices of child labour.

The provision in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana on the rights of children, led Government to the creation of Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, Department of Children, Social Welfare, Special Police Unit for Child Protection.

Additionally, Ghana has passed its own laws on child labour. This includes the Children's Act of 1998 and the Labour Act of 2003, both of which address child labour in detail. The Children's Act bans all exploitative labour and echoes the 1992 Constitution's prohibition by defining this type of labour as that which denies a child of health, education or development. The Act additionally bans a number of child labour practices that it lists as "hazardous".

Interestingly, there is an ardent belief that when the educational opportunities are facilitated to access quality education and training of children and mobilising communities against child labour, Ghana will go a long way to minimize the problems of these children.

According to a report from the Vatican, more than 800 million children around the world are victims of malnutrition, diseases, trafficking and other forms of economic and social exploitation. Out of the estimated 218 million child labourers, about 171 million work in hazardous environments and operate dangerous machinery. Millions of children are also forced into armed activities or prostitution, while several of them are seen on the streets in most continents.

The Vatican report cites that 'in a few years the number of children in Africa orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic will reach 18 million. Every minute in Africa one child contract HIV and one child dies of AIDS.

Situations in other African countries is no different from Ghana, as many children abandoned school and opt to work to earn a living just because of either broken family or single parenthood.

Statistics from the 2000 population census of Ghana indicates that over 60,000 children of school-going age failed to enroll in school in some districts especially in the Ashanti Region.

Children as a matter of interest are the treasures and assets of every country and are the ones who will hold the fore in the years to come. Therefore, talents and time must be invested in them by all and sundry.

Making rounds through the principals streets of major cities in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Koforidua, confirms how some children are neglected by their parents because of either they (parent) are unemployed or financially handicapped.

Some of the Children live on the streets because they were probably born there, some of the youth also flee from forced marriages, while others migrate to the urban areas in search of non-existing jobs, hence get impregnated.

Apart from the serious problems children in Ghana are facing such as school drop-out, child mortality, , child labour, child trafficking, rape, defilement and non-maintenance of children, There are over 800,000 children who are not in school, 50% of children who sit for BECE in public schools never get admission to secondary school, there is an increasing gap between the urban child and rural child in terms of access and quality to education and the high rate of school drop out in rural areas.

Despite the efforts by the current government to have a place in schools for children some children were reported to have dropped out of school before they could complete their Junior Secondary Education. The Ghanaian child needs to be protected to sustain the future of the nation.

As a result of these, a lot of these children unpalatably are seen in the hot sun selling biscuits, ice water, toilet roll, toffees and other things just to make a living and the question that comes into mind to a common person is ,do our children have a future after fifty years of independence?

Ghanaians should be guided by article 28 of the 1992 constitution that 'every child has the right to same measure of special care, assistance and maintenance.'

This calls for all Ghanaians especially governments, Church leaders, politicians and parents to be submissive to the Children's Act of 1998, which prohibits anybody to subject children to inhuman treatment.

It is time Political parties and their Presidential Candidates take a critical look at this area of making the life of children a better one as one of its major priorities. Children need to be protected against all acts of violence, abuse, exploitation, discrimination and rape.

Creating a society fit for the Ghanaian child means all children should get the best possible start of life and have access to quality basic education. They need to be helped to develop their individual capacities in a safe and supportive environment.

This is the outmost need for every Ghanaian to promote the physical, social, emotional, spiritual development of children to make Ghana one of the countries that have designed programmes for children on the African continent.

Ghanaians as well as humanitarian Organisations should seriously take into consideration Ghana approaches the general elections in December, to ensure that the Presidential Candidates present their child development policy to Ghanaians for all to access them on how their policy will target the 52% of our population who are children (0 - 18years).

It has also become necessary for them to let Ghanaians know their vision for the Ghanaian children in order to protect the inherent dignity of children in Ghana and campaign for fair and good life for children'.

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Damian Avevor is a Catholic Journalist in Accra
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