By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA
Abudwam (Ash), Nov. 1, GNA - The Adansi North District Assembly (ANDA) has launched a project making the district a Child Labour Free Zone to ensure the elimination of Child Labour and make responsible parenting a priority.
The declaration is part of the ANDA resolve to eliminate Child Labour in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) with its programmes funded by the US Department of Labour.
The launch also saw the inauguration of a committee tasked to work with approved by-laws to ensure the successful implementation and achievement of the project results.
Mr Eric Kwaku Kusi, District Chief Executive (DCE) of ANDA in his address to launch the project said, Child labour has, over the years, become an issue of national and international concern and has brought together leaders of various nations to find solutions to address it.
He said Section 16 of the Children’s Act entrusts the care and protection of all children in the hands of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and to ensure that this mandate is carried out, ANDA has joined the fight against child labour.
Mr Kusi said the United Nations (UN) defines child labour as any work that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity.
This he said refers to works that are mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and interfere with their education by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
He said it was obvious from the above that child labour is cruel, exploitative and one of the most heinous crimes that can be perpetrated by any person or group of persons against children, and must be eliminated in our societies.
He said Child Labour steals the childhood, the human right and dignity of children and must be eliminated.
The DCE said, according to the ILO, lack of meaningful alternatives such as affordable schools and quality education was another major factor driving children to harmful labour.
He therefore called on Ghanaians to support government’s social interventions.
He said government has adopted comprehensive policies to reduce poverty, increase access and enrolment and improve the quality of education to ensure progress in our efforts to deal with child labour.
He said the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme, were some of the interventions adopted to increase school enrolments and alleviate the economic burden of parents.
“The introduction of the Free Senior High School policy bridges the poverty gap since parents who force their children to engage in child labour attribute the reasons to poverty, lack of job opportunities, and lack of access to available capital for small scale investment”.
Mr Emmanuel Kwame Mensah, Project Director Giovanni Soledad of ILO Caring Gold Minning Project said Ghana has realized that Child Labour was a challenge and that government through its institutions was leading a national crusade against the menace and was making progress.
He said there was a national action plan on the elimination of the worst form of Child Labour led by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations together with the Ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Education, Local Government and Rural Development, Fisheries and Land and Natural Resources.
Mr Mensah said data available at the Ghana Statistical Service in 2014 revealed that one out five children in the country were involved in child labour activities bringing the number to 1,890,000.
The Project Coordinator said there was a strong child labour monitoring system aimed at eliminating the menace and that there was the need to improve on the enforcement mechanism of the country’s laws to deal with culprits.
He called on institutions mandated to mitigate Child Labour to strengthen and build the capacity of its staff to be able to fight the menace.
GNA
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS