Child Labour should not be defined by emotions but by laws – GAWU deputy gen secretary

Deputy Secretary-General of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Andy Tagoe, has urged stakeholders in Ghana's labor sector to stop classifying activities children engage in as child labour based on emotions.

Andy Tagoe, who is also a programme coordinator for the Global March Against Child Labour, said that even though the laws of Ghana (Children Act 560) and international conventions define what child labour is, most people misuse the phrase and also engage in the menace without knowing it.

Andy Tagoe, who made these remarks at a force labour training for Social Mobilization Partners Against Child Labour (SOMOPAC) under the Forced Labour Indicators Project (FLIP) being implemented by Vetite, added that before work a child engages in is classified as child labour it must first affect the child's development, particularly his/her education, health, and morals.

“It (Child Labour) is work performed by a person below the age of 18 years, which deprives the person of the basic human rights, and is abusive, hazardous, exploitative and harmful to the health, safety and development of the child.

"Work that denies children of education or does not allow them to benefit fully from school, by way of attempting to combine school with heavy work or work for long hours.

"Such work may be hazardous in the sense that it affects the child's physical health, morals and safety," he said.

The training was organised for journalists across the country and was sponsored by the Global March Against Child Labour and the United States Department of Children.

Journalists, including a journalist from GhanaWeb, were taken through a course in child and forced labour to help them understand issues surrounding the menace and better advocate to help curb it.

Also, the Social Mobilization Partners Against Child Labour (SOMOPAC) was relaunched at the event.

The partners, who are mostly journalists, were urged to help make issues of child labour and forced labour topical in the country and drive the need for legislation and actions by government functionaries to help curb the menace.

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