From second left Emmanuel Kwame Mensah, ILO, Bright Wireku-Brobey, Dr. Doris Yaa Dartey, Commissioner Media Commission, Mike Arthur, International Cocoa Initiative, Yaa Pepreh Amekudzi, Mondelez Int. Cocoa Life at the event
About two million children aged between 5 and 17 in Ghana are in one form of child labour or the other, the Ghana Labour Standards Survey (GLSS 6) has indicated.
The survey, released in August, 2014, revealed that 1,982,553 children out of over 8 million, are engaged in child labour, representing 21.8 percent.
The figure is an increase over the 2003 Ghana Child Labour Survey (GCLS 2003), which reported 1.27 million child labourers, out of a population of over 6 million children.
The survey further showed that the proportion of male children in child labour was slightly higher (22.7%) than females (20.8%) with children in economic activity higher (39 %) in rural areas than urban (16.8%).
The study revealed that the majority of the children (76.8%) served as a skilled agriculture and fishery workers while 14.9% worked in the service sector.
“A higher proportion of males [83.2] were engaged as skilled agriculture/fishery workers compared to females (69.8%). On the other hand, the proportion of females engaged in the service sector (21.4%) was higher than males (8.9%),” the survey showed.
These alarming figures were disclosed at the media lunch of the 2017 World Day Against Child Labour, under the global theme, ‘Conflicts and disasters protect children from child labour: Mobilizing resources for effective implementation of NPA2.’
This year’s theme was adopted because many of the 168 million children engaged in child labour live in conflicts and disaster-affected areas where there is a high risk of being killed, maimed, injured, and displaced or being pushed into hands of traffickers.
Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireku-Brobey, giving the keynote address, said child labour, if not curbed, would have devastating impact on people in general and children in particular.
“Child labour continues to be prevalent in Ghana; every fifth child is directly affected and more than one in 10 children are engaged in the worst forms, particularly hazardous work.
There are child labourers in every region of a country. Apart from Greater Accra and Central Regions, each region has more than 20% of children as victims,” he said.
Giving a vivid picture of the menace in the country, Mr. Wireku-Brobey said child labour is endemic in many local communities, especially in deprived areas where opportunities are dwindling, forcing children into agriculture, which by its nature or circumstance, is injurious to their health.
Poor Funding
Mr. Wireku-Brobey emphasized the lack of resources as the main challenge the MERL encountered during the implementation of the NPA1 and thereby could not achieve some of the set objectives.
He said the sector ministry has decided to mobilize external resources to implement the NAP2.
“It is believed that the successful implementation of the NPA2 will achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7, which requires all states to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, eliminate worst forms of child labour, social conflicts and disasters,” he asserted.
He therefore appealed to members of the inky fraternity to sustain momentum in their coverage of all issues regarding the fight against this pervasive social canker because the government alone cannot address the menace.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri