NGO calls on Graphic to help fight child labour
A Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), MACEE Foundation, committed to fighting child labour, has called on Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), for support.
Advertisement
Torgbui Gobah Tengey, who led a delegation to call on the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey, said most children were not being treated well and had to do hazardous work, especially those living in the coastal areas.
He, therefore, urged Mr Ashigbey and the GCGL to help fight what he described as a social menace, just as it was being done against illegal mining (galamsey) in which children were also involved.
“Children are very vulnerable and as such they must be treated with love and care instead of being mistreated,” Torgbui Tengey, an advocate for the campaign against child labour, said.
He said adults were role models whom children looked up to and so if the right thing was not done, they would grow up following in the wrong steps and decisions that would not augur well for their future.
“Everyone can help make this campaign a reality. This is a channel to help get the children out of their misery,” Torgbui Tengey said.
Challenge
Mr Ashigbey, for his part, said child labour was still a challenge in the society even though the fight against it was gradually gaining acceptance.
He, however, noted that the situation was difficult, considering that some cultures in the country found it acceptable.
For instance, he said it was not considered child labour if children helped their parents on the farm or with domestic chores and went to school afterwards. “It is considered a normal practice. In Africa helping your parents with domestic chores is very normal and culturally accepted. It only becomes child labour when the said child is denied education and is being used to do hazardous work,” he said.
He added that one of the key push factors in the fight against “galamsey” was the exploitation of children who were used widely at mining sites when they should be in school.
He said it was untenable, the excuse given that they were earning money to look after themselves.
GCGL support
Mr Ashigbey pledged the GCGL’s support for the cause and said the company would play an active role to help fight the problem and expressed the hope that other media houses would join the campaign.
“It is a very laudable initiative. Just call on us whenever you need us and we will be ready to help spread the message across for people to know the negative effects of child labour,” he promised.
A Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) survey conducted in october 2013, found that 1.9 million children in Ghana between the ages of five and 17 were involved in child labour. Of this number, 1.2 million children engaged in hazardous forms of child labour.