‘Take pragmatic steps to curtail forced child labour’
The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has urged the government to take pragmatic steps to curtail forced child labour, especially in the fishing industry.
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It has also called on stakeholders to give the government maximum support to curb the incidence of forced child labour.
According to the immediate past General Secretary of the CCG, Rev. Dr Fred Degbe, some aspects of forced child labour, especially in the Volta Basin, could be described as modern-day slavery.
“It is a huge problem and we are in a big denial about it. We need to expose what is happening in these communities and rescue the children,’’ he said.
He stated that although other stakeholders had a role to play in reducing forced child labour, it was the government that had the power to bring people who forced children into such activities to book.
Rev. Dr Degbe was speaking at a media interaction organised by the International Justice Mission (IJM) and the CCG as part of activities to mark International Day for Forced Child Labour.
The event was to highlight the role faith-based organisations and the media had to play in combating forced child labour.
Statistics
The global slavery index released two weeks ago indicated that there are over 45 million people held in modern-day slavery worldwide.
According to the index, there were over 103,000 people in what could be described as slavery in the country, with 21,000 of such people estimated to be Ghanaians.
Rev. Dr Degbe said the main driving force behind forced child labour was the existence of people and communities willing to send their children to engage in such activities and communities willing to receive them.
“Unfortunately, some of those who allow their children to go into such areas are not aware of what the children are going into,’’ he said.
Awareness
The Director of Social Services of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Rev Jemima Amanor, called on churches to create awareness of and educate people on the negative impact of forced child labour, adding, “We need to educate the parents of such children because they are being deceived by the middlemen who facilitate such activities.’’
For his part, a representative of IJM, Mr Kaign Christy, urged the relevant authorities to take a hard stance against forced child labour to end the impunity that characterised that activity.