Accra, Dec. 2, GNA - Vice-President John Dramani Mahama has requested the United States Department of Labour to remove Ghana's cocoa from its list of goods produced by child or forced labour.

Ghana's cocoa is among 122 products from 58 countries listed by the US Department of Labour on its Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA List). The primary purpose of the TVPRA List is to raise public awareness about the incidence of child labour and forced labour in the production of goods in the countries listed and to promote efforts to eliminate such practices.

However, speaking at the opening session of the of the second meeting of the International Joint Working Group on Labour in Cocoa Farming in Accra on Wednesday, Vice-President Mahama said having cocoa TVPRA list could be a disincentive to efforts to eliminate the practice. "This is unacceptable and serves to undermine the efforts that we are making to address the issue of the worst forms of child labour as well as a disincentive for other countries to embark on any comprehensive effort," Vice-President Mahama said.

The International Joint Working Group has been set up to provide strategic and action oriented forum for Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, the Global Chocolate industry and civil society organizations to jointly assess cocoa sector labour practices common to both countries as well as develop appropriate plans to guide and coordinate remediation activities. Vice-President Mahama said government had put in place a sound and workable framework for eliminating all worst forms of child labour in the cocoa sector by a adopting a multi-sectoral approach and working with and through all concerned stakeholders. He said remediation activities which started in 2008 in 11 districts and 122 communities had been scaled up to 47 districts and 525 communities this year with over 8,000 children as beneficiaries. The country has also developed the Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework, which defines dangerous and acceptable work activities and conditions.

Besides, the community-based Child Labour Monitoring System (CCLMS), which is both a remediation and a data collection tool to generate information on activities of children directly from the communities, had commenced operations. Vice-President Mahama called for a collaborative effort from partners, including the Global Chocolate Industry, to do more to support government and the Ghana Cocoa Board to accelerate the remediation activities. He said the citing of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire on the list stemmed from the inability of stakeholders in the cocoa industry to agree on common indicators and benchmarks for measuring the impact of child labour. Vice-President Mahama urged the working group to help accelerate development in cocoa communities to reduce poverty and hazardous child labour in the cocoa production chain.

Mr. Jeff Morgan, Global Cocoa Industry representative on the Joint Working Group, said although cocoa from Ghana was not cited on the Executive Order, the placing on the TVRPA still raised a lot of concerns. He said although much progress had been made, there was still need for more commitment from governments and stakeholders to overcome and eliminate the practice completely.

"We are not there yet but we hope to get there," Morgan said. Mr. Jacob Prince Hayibor, Chairman, Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises, asked the Joint Working Group to explore avenues for more alternative livelihood programmes to enhance the income of Ghanaian cocoa farmers.