CHRAJ marks International Human Rights Day

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on Wednesday celebrated International Human Rights Day in Accra with emphasis on measures to eliminate child labour.

Mr Joseph Whittal, Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, who presented the findings of a research on child labour, said the Commission is laying emphasis on child rights because of issues of rampant exploitation.

He said that 65 per cent of head of institutions in the country indicated in 2013 that most child labour activities are found in the fishing sector.

Due to this, the Commission organized researches into communities suspected to have many children exploited especially in the fishing field in the Greater Accra and Volta Regions. These communities include Awatey Tornu, Torkor Tornu, Dangbe East, Ada and Kpando districts.

Findings from the research revealed that the predominant occupation in the Volta Region is fishing supported by trade and therefore parents offer their wards to employers in the fishing occupation to gain income.

He said more than 26 children who go fishing with their employers sleep in an average sized room or work overnight which is dangerous to their health.

Children living at places like Gomoa, Sogakope and Ningo often need to travel very long distances to go fishing with their employers.

The children ranging from nine to 10 years paddle the canoe and mend torn nets; 10 years and above dive into the water to bring out stuck nets while children at 15 years are often self-employed in fishing.

Mr Whittal said these children work under all kind of weather conditions and often naked and are often exposed to many diseases including bilharzia, pneumonia, and severe headache.

He noted that when wind blows heavily while on fishing, the boat or canoe overturns putting the lives of these children at serious risk when they are not able to paddle faster.

Speaking about gender on child exploitation in fishing, he said some girls are made to surrender themselves to their employers whenever they demand for sex in order to earn additional income for their welfare.

“Children at 12 years and below are often impregnated by these employers through this manner. Due to this, drop our rates of girls are higher than boys since they often become attracted by their employers who take advantage of their needy situation.”

All these he said is also due to the fact that girls seldom have voice to complain or defend themselves when they are asked to do something against their own will.

An interview members of the commission granted with some of the employers revealed that they often prefer children because of their activeness and seldom complain.

Mr Whittal said that although it is heart breaking seeing the children undergoing such exploitative treatments, trying to remove them from such hazardous activities, which is their source of livelihood could be challenging.

He said the commission believes that many governmental and non-governmental could massively discuss and help find ways to reduce such acts against children after finding out results of their research.

He urged the Ministries of Education and Ghana Education Service to facilitate establishment of schools and grant the communities access to capitation grant and the national school feeding programme.

He also urged the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to do livelihood empowerment of people in these communities.

He recommended for the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture to introduce technology into fishing to reduce risks in the fishing sector.

Ms Chansa Kapaya, United Nations (UN) representative said every human being has the right to enjoy rights and freedoms and that is the proud mission of the UN.

She said the UN theme for this year’s International Human Rights is “Human Rights 365”, which shows that all individuals are entitled to enjoy their rights and freedoms at every time and day of the year without anybody trampling upon them.