Social protection effective in curbing child labour
Thousands of children throughout the country are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedom, leading to a violation of their rights.
Of these children, a number of them are engaged in worse forms of child labour such as slavery, drug trafficking and prostitution.
For this reason, the 2014 World Day Against Child Labour which falls on June 12 seeks to draw attention to the role of social protection in keeping children out of child labour.
Social protection is a basic human right which enables sound economic and social development through access to education and health care and plays a critical role in the development of children.
The global theme for the celebration is “Extend social protection, combat child labour” while the national theme is “Combating child labour in Ghana through effective social protection”.
Child labour must be condemned
The World Day Against Child Labour is marked every year to highlight the plight of children and also as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour.
At a media launch of the day in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, in a speech read on her behalf, said child labour prevented children who were the future leaders from developing their full potentials.
She, therefore, called for the condemnation and elimination of the act to provide the opportunity for every child to develop in dignity and respect.
“Child labour is a stubborn problem which when overcome in certain places or sectors, seeks out opportunities to reappear in new and often unanticipated ways,” she stated.
Effective policies
To respond to the menace, Nana Oye Lithur noted that versatile and adaptable initiatives through effective policies and legislation were needed to redress the persistent poverty and vulnerable household economic challenges.
The minister said social protection was one effective way to curb the child labour challenge in the country, adding that efforts to promote decent work for adults and the enforcement of regulations of protecting the child were other forms of stopping the menace.
She reiterated the government’s commitment through various interventions and legislation such as the Capitation Grant and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to address the issues pertaining to child labour.
Protect children
The outgoing Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Antwi Bosiako Sekyere, said there was the need for more actions to address the root causes of child labour, including poverty, economic and health-related shock.
By protecting children and their families, Mr Sekyere said social protection helped to give children an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential and live healthy and productive lives.
He added that Ghana was highly commended after a peer review exercise by member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after which recommendations to improve on some of the social interventions were made.
The Technical Advisor of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Mr Stephen McClelland, said although progress had been made in reducing child labour over the years, there was still more work to be done to reduce the challenge, especially in Africa, which seems to be making steady progress.
He urged the government to conduct surveys and research to get statistics of children engaged in the act and to also bring to light the impact of the various social interventions by the government.
He added that social protection was one effective way of reducing child labour and mentioned others as education and awareness which were the responsibility of the media.
The role of the media
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney, challenged the media to make child labour issues an utmost necessity by giving it the attention needed.
He also tasked the media to push for policies and demand for accountability to ensure that every child was free from child labour.