Bright Appiah
Thousands of Ghanaian children are being sacrificed for gold, trapped in toxic illegal mines, crippled by disease, and abandoned by a system that should protect them.
A new exposé by Child Rights International (CRI) reveals that children, as young as five, are forced into deadly pits, inhaling mercury fumes, suffering broken bones, and losing their future all for a few grams of gold.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, Bright Appiah, Executive Director of CRI, warned, “We are burying Ghana’s future alive under poisoned rivers and toxic soil. This is not just an environmental disaster. This is a child rights emergency.”
Revelation
A recent survey by CRI revealed that only 17% of children, aged between 15 and 17 in mining areas, remained in school.
It said children, as young as 10, were earning up to GH¢4,200 a month — more than four times the average household income — by risking their lives in illegal mines.
It continued that over 81% suffered brutal injuries; while 93% were exposed daily to poisonous mercury; as 45% of girls reported sexual exploitation and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases (STIs).
Mr. Appiah added that “Children are dropping out of school, becoming breadwinners — and dying before they ever become adults.”
Health Crisis
In Amansie West and South of the Ashanti Region, it discovered that 85% of child miners had pneumoconiosis, a deadly lung disease from inhaling mining dust.
In Western North’s Sefwi Wiawso, 85% battled tuberculosis.
Mercury used in gold extraction is permanently damaging children’s brains and nervous systems, leaving many disabled for life, it mentioned, adding that hospitals were overwhelmed and ill-equipped — as also many clinics operated without basic medicines or trained staff to cope with mining-related diseases.
Poisoned Rivers, Dying Futures
Mr. Appiah continued that survival itself was under threat as 70% of mining-area households had no access to clean drinking water.
Families are forced to drink from rivers choked with mining waste or pay inflated prices for sachet water, spending up to GH¢448.50 a month just to survive.
Child Protection Betrayed
The Executive Director further noted that instead of being protected, children were thrown into danger, adding that many were now the sole providers for their siblings, parents and even grandparents, as they are trapped in a brutal cycle of labour, disease, and exploitation.
CRI Blames Government
The organisation blamed the government’s Community Mining Programme (CRM), calling for its immediate abolition, saying it had opened the floodgates to child labour, abuse, and the collapse of protection systems.
“This is not an environmental issue. It is a child rights catastrophe,” Mr. Appiah emphasised, adding that “Every day we delay, another child is lost to death, disease or to despair. Ghana must act now, or history will never forgive us.”
CRI Demands Sweeping Reforms
Mr. Appiah called for an immediate abolition of the Community Mining Policy.
He also stressed the need for strict enforcement of child protection and education laws, creation of a national health fund for affected children, and urgent transition to mercury-free mining.
“Our gold is soaked in the blood, sweat, and lost futures of our children. Ghana cannot mine its way to prosperity by burying its youngest citizens in pits of greed,” Mr. Appiah said.
By Samuel Boadi