Stakeholders Must Intensify Efforts In Fighting Child Labour In Ghana

Child Labour is one of worst forms of social canker, if not a deadly disease, that continue to rub the nation's future leaders. It 'constitutes a blight on the development of every country as children are the nation's most valuable asset and its human resource base'.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 'any work performed by a person below the age of 18years, which deprives the person of the basic human rights and is abusive, hazardous, exploitative and harmful to the health, safety, and development of the person' is considered as child labour.

Globally, about 85 million children are in engage in hazardous work, while Sub-Saharan Africa continue to be the highest in incidence of child labour, scoring over 21% of the global mark. The number of boys engage in child labour is higher than that of girls and agriculture remains by far the most important sector where child labourers can be found'.

'In Ghana, especially in rural and peri-urban sectors where the distinction between child labour and child work is blurred by socio-cultural beliefs and practices, child labour is fast gaining grounds'. Ghana has very rich natural resources and produces major crops such as Cocoa, sugar cane, Oil palm, plantain, and cashew.

Other employment sectors included Stone Quarrying, Fishing, illegal alluvial gold mining (popularly called 'Galamsey'), domestic servitude and food selling, Chainsaw Operations, Artisanship and Services. Child Labour is widely used in these occupational areas and child exploitation is widely spread with its consequential negative effects on the Children's Education, Health and Development.

Even though Article 28 (2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states clearly that, 'every Child has the right to be protected from engaging in work that constitutes a threat to his/her health, education or development', Ghana has achieved very little in this regards. Also, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly on 20th November, 1989 stipulated that, every child has the inherent right to life.

It also obliged Member States to further provide Special Care and Protection for Children, and adopt measures that will ensure Children's Rights to Special Care, Educational training and the enjoyment of full and decent life in dignity, and the achievement of the greatest degree of self-reliance and social integration possible.

The Convention further enjoined Member States to put measures and structures in place that would protect children from Child Labour; Drug Abuse, Sexual Exploitation, Trafficking and Abduction, and other forms of conditions that are likely to interfere with the child's health, education, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

This year's World Day against Child Labour (WDACL 2014) theme; 'Combating Child Labour in Ghana Through Effective Social Protection', is in the right direction. Though, sometimes I personally do not like some social protection mechanisms, it is absolutely true that some child labour issues are a result of poverty and vulnerabilities of families. These families sometimes need mechanisms to facilitate their smooth survival. Frankly speaking, social protection policies such as access to free quality health care, free quality education, maternity benefits, school feeding, good pension, disability benefits, and old age benefits are of economic and social significance as far as the fight against child labour is concern.

However, both global and national efforts in combating the canker is inadequate as asserted by the ILO Director General, Guy Ryder that, 'we are moving in the right direction but progress is still too slow. If we are serious about ending the scourge of child labour in the foreseeable future, we need a substantial stepping-up of efforts at all levels. There are 168 million good reasons to do so'.

On this day 12 June 2014 WDACL, it is important for all stakeholders to harness their efforts jointly and individually in the fight to eliminate the child labour menace in Ghana. Government must intensify the adoption and implementation of conscious policies and programmes aim at combating child labour; the Private Sector including the Civil Society should step up advocacy and sensitization efforts; Local and Traditional Authorities should execute by-laws targeting child protection; whiles parents should provide adequate care and parental protection for their kids.

Fighting child labour cannot be a unilateral responsibility of a single stakeholder, rather it's the collective responsibility of all and we must play our respective roles in whatever we can to support in the fight against the canker of worst forms of child labour in Ghana.

Abu Ibrahim Azebre
ILO-IPEC PPP Project Officer
Development Fortress Association
Twifo Praso, Cape Coast
0240393109
[email protected]
9/06/2014