The Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection is appealing for massive support from Ghanaians to help in the fight against child labour in the country and to promote the rights of children.
This was contained in a press statement signed by the Communications Advisor at the Ministry, Abraham Asare on Friday to mark the International Day against Child labour.
[contextly_sidebar id=”fQNRprS0nQOvS1QcZMOUrbTupaq5eryv”]The International Day, which is 12th June, 2015 is intended to serve as a catalyst for the worldwide movement against child labour.
This year’s World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) is on the theme: ‘No to child labour, yes to quality education.’
The statement expressed the Ministry’s commitment to policies that will expand quality education for children and reduce child labour.
It revealed that Ghana has given a lot in the fight against child labour through policy planning, institutional capacity building, legal framework and law enforcement as well as education programmes.
The statement said through these contributions, policies like the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I, the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II and the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda have been established.
It said institutional capacity building has been reinforced through the establishment of the National Steering Committee on Child Labour (NSCCL) and the Child Labour Unit (CLU) under the Labour Department to harmonize the responsibility of the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Children.
“We need to intensify the fight against the phenomenon because, child labour affects all sectors of our economy. It is a human right, economic, cultural, education, moral and developmental issue. And if we fail to deal with it, it will remain blight on our future,” Mr. Abraham Asare expressed in the press statement.
Earlier this year, the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah Arthur at the 2015 Federation of Cocoa Commerce Dinner, held in Grosvenor House, London had stated that Ghana is currently working to eliminate all forms of child labour on cocoa farms.
He had revealed that the government has introduced the Child Education Support Programme to ensure that schools in cocoa growing communities are rehabilitated and new ones built where there are no schools.
By Selassie A. Amissah Mensah /citifmonline.com/Ghana