By Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA
Koforidua, March 26, GNA - Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment and Labour, Social Welfare and State Enterprises have been schooled on child labour issues on cocoa farms by the International Cocoa Initiative.
The purpose of the three-day training was to equip the parliamentary committee with adequate knowledge on the subject to be adequately informed to shape debates on relevant policies on the subject.
Some of the focus areas at the training were the causes and consequences of child labour, national response in addressing child labour and inculcating child labour issues into the activities of the Committee for holistic approach.
The Country Director of the ICI, Mr Mike Arthur in his opening address said one of the strategic objectives of the ICI was to ensure key stockholders had improved awareness knowledge, willingness and capacity to take appropriate and effective decisions that strengthened children’s protection and mitigate child labour in cocoa growing communities.
He said the ability to collaborate with the parliamentarians as key stakeholders was a component of a five-year strategic plan for 2015-2020 with the overarching goal of improving lives of children and reducing child labour in cocoa-growing communities.
Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, Member of Parliament for Asante-Akyem South and Chairman of the committee said the training was timely as it would afford them the opportunity to tackle child labour issues at the law making house to effectively respond.
He said child labour issues were glaring and pertained in all constituencies, citing situations where children of most of cocoa farmers were not able to attend school.
The Deputy Ranking Member of the committee and MP for Keta, Mr Richard Quashigah, said child labour and trafficking were critical to achieving the sustainable development goals in Ghana and described the training as timely.
GNA
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS