Ghana tackles Child labour menace

The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations is currently addressing the menace of Child Labour through the implementation of the National Plan of Action Phase II (NPA II), launched in May 2018.

The Plan is towards the Elimination of Child Labour, which focuses on an integrated Area-Based Approach towards creating Child Labour Free Zones, as indicated in the National Development Policy Framework.

A statement issued in Accra by the Ministry to mark the World Day Against Child Labour and copied to the Ghana News Agency said successive governments and stakeholders had not relented on their efforts to combat child labour in Ghana.

This year's event is on the theme: "COVID-19: Protect Children From Child Labour, Now More Than Ever.”

The World Day Against Child Labour is an occasion by the International Labour Organization as part of the global advocacy arrangements to highlight the plight of children in hard labour and to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against the trend.

The statement said the efforts were evident in the numerous legislations, Policies, Programmes and projects, as well as strong institutional arrangements that seek to protect children’s rights, promote their development and prevent them from getting trapped child labour.

It said effective collaboration between government agencies, tripartite constituents, Civil society organizations, Non-governmental organizations, private sector, international organisations, would be a step in the right direction.

The statement said in the COVID-19 era, the time had come for the country to intensify and be passionate about the implementation of the four main broad strategic objectives of the NPA II for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour.

The statement said the key to the fight against child labour resided in the effective implementation of NPA II and appealed to all lead agencies to commit human, logistics and financial resources to the implementation of their respective roles in the plan.

"That is the way to achieve our collective efforts in this COVID-19 period, it is now or never," it added.

The Ministry also appealed to all other stakeholders including; the media, religious and traditional leaders to strengthen their collaboration to attain effective and efficient collaboration with the Lead Agencies to achieve SDG Target 8.7 and other SDGs.