Ahead of World Day Against Child Labour today: Challenging Heights rescues 23 children

A child rights organisation, Challenging Heights, over the weekend, rescued 23 children from what it believed to be the worst forms of child labour on Volta Lake.

 The President of the organisation, James Kofi Annan, who made this known, said the children, aged between four to 17, were made up of 17 boys and six girls.

“The children were rescued from 16 different communities along the Lake Volta, with several of them exhibiting slavery-like conditions,” he added.

 The rescue mission was in commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labour, which is commemorated around the world on June 12 each year with this year’s global theme: “Social justice for all. End child labour!”.

Ghana has adopted the theme, “Protect children against child labour now more than ever”, as a way of emphasising the urgency of the need for stakeholders to intensify their efforts at addressing the situation.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF estimate that there are presently over 160 million children found in child labour globally, an increase of over eight million children attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa has the highest child labour rates, with about 24 per cent of children between the ages of five and 17 being involved in child labour. 

Report

Mr Annan said it was estimated that over 21 per cent of all children in the country, between the ages of five and 17, was involved in child labour, with a wide geographical disparity between the northern and southern parts of Ghana.

“According to a Ballard Brief report, roughly 33 per cent of children in northern Ghana are in child labour, compared to 7.8 per cent in southern Ghana.

“The situation is worst in the Upper West Region, with over 44 per cent of children being found in child labour compared to three per cent of child labour found in the Ashanti Region,” he stressed.

Mr Annan also said, according to the report, the agricultural sector had the highest number of working children with over 79 per cent found in child labour. 

Efforts

Mr Annan said his organisation, with offices both in the northern and southern parts of the country, would continue its efforts in addressing the situation by adopting a comprehensive strategy of rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of affected children, as well as engaging in advocacy at all levels to create awareness, and influencing policies and their implementation.

The child rights advocate said the organisation would also provide support for vulnerable children and their families in order to build resilience against exploitation, adding that last year, Challenging Heights published a report that showed that 60 per cent of all children living along Lake Volta were affected by child labour.

Call

Mr Annan called on the government to increase its investment, especially for state agencies mandated to fight against child labour, to ensure that those agencies were effective in carrying out their mandate.

 “We also believe that the lack of proper coordination between the Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, and the Department of Children of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, weakens the effort at fighting child labour in Ghana,” he added.

The organisation’s president, therefore, reiterated his outfit’s call on the government to relocate the Child Labour Unit, from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.