Sub- Saharan Africa child labour cases increase

Accra, Oct 24, GNA - Though there has been 11 per cent decrease in child labour and 33 per cent decrease in its worse forms in other continents, the menace is on the increase in Sub Saharan Africa, Mr Emmanuel Kwame Mensah, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Project Officer said on Wednesday. To reverse the trend, he said, ILO, is supporting Ghana to adopt an Integrated Child Labour Monitoring System aimed at bringing together key sectors and agencies working on the filed to holistically address the problem.

He said effective coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders have become necessary to avoid duplication of efforts and resources on the same mandate, since individual work had reduced efficiency. Mr Mensah made this known at a two-day workshop on Child Labour Monitoring aimed at sharing information on child labour monitoring systems, defining and documenting the roles and responsibilities of key partners and strategising for network collaboration and coordination to eliminate it in Ghana.

He said Ghana's efforts in combating child labour was commendable, saying the mainstreaming of child labour issues into the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) was a demonstration of political will and commitment.

Mrs. Silvia Hinson-Ekong, Executive Director for Future Resource Development, consultants on child labour issues, said poverty should not be given as an excuse to engage children in labour. She said ignorance, poor family planning and poor attitude to child development were rather the contributing factors, hence the need to adopt well structured sensitisation programmes that were capable of transforming society to change attitude on child development. Mrs. Hinson -Ekong said the Capitation Grant and other incentives to encourage school enrolment were not enough, if parents did not appreciate the investments of education.