By Rebecca Ekpe
Many parents do not realize that some of the tasks their children perform, such as carrying heavy loads, using sharp tools, or handling agrochemicals are hazardous and can harm their development. On the other hand, not all work performed by children is classified as child labor. Millions of children above the minimum age of employment undertake work, paid or unpaid that is lawful, appropriate for their age and maturity. This forms part of their socialization and school to work transition. By working, these children learn to take responsibility, gain skills,
add to their family’s or their own income and wellbeing, and contribute to the country’s economy. But how far can these Children go to break their backs in overcoming family circumstances often driven by poverty.
The Children’s Act and Hazardous Work
Currently, in Ghana, per the Children’s Act, Children 15 years and above are permitted to work, however under the appropriate non-hazardous conditions. Among the tasks children aged 15-17 can perform on the cocoa farms, include, assisting in planting, plucking within hand-reach cocoa pods,drying cocoa beans, weeding with age-appropriate cutlass and carrying age-appropriate load. Meanwhile, the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) puts the minimum age for light work at13. Light work constitutes work that is not likely to be harmful to the health or development of the child and does not affect the child’s attendance at school or the capacity of the child to benefit from schoolwork. The law also says light work must be done for limited hours, of not more than 2 hours per day or 14 hours per week. All these nuances surrounding child labor issues, underscore the critical need for continuous awareness creation among stake holders including the media. Child Rights Advocate, Katie Bird, also Communications Director at International Cocoa Initiative, said the role of media is critical to ICI’s advocacy against child labour.
” And very importantly, to help hold duty bearers and those in positions of power to account. So that’s the kind of objective of the last few days. And what we’d like to happen is to create some strong networks and strong relationships so that we can build on this strong foundation and work together in the future to bring these issues to light,” she posited.
”We believe that there is a very important role for the Ghanaian media in tackling child labor and forced labor in Cocoa. Firstly, we think the media has an important role to bring these issues to light, to bring these issues to the forefront. Secondly, to help the wider Ghanaian society to understand some of these concepts in more detail”. Madam Bird noted.
Reports indicate that approximately 2.1 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana work on cocoa farms, most of whom are likely exposed to the worst forms of child labor. Holding duty bearers to account has been a pivotal part of ICI’s 25 years’ existence. Katie Bird says Gender Empowerment, and access to education are also priorities for the International Cocoa Initiative in its quest to place the child first.
“The majority of these children are within their family structure, but they’re doing tasks that have been deemed to be hazardous. So, there’s something called the hazardous activity framework that Ghana has developed, which has a list of activities that children should not be doing because they’re dangerous. That includes things like carrying heavy loads that are too heavy for the age and the strength of the child,” Katie Bird explained.
Ghana’s Hazardous Activity Framework
Ghana has developed a Hazardous Activity Framework, to give clarity to what constitutes Child Labour in the Ghanaian context. This is also in line with the ILO Convention 182, that requires each country through tripartite arrangements to develop a list of hazardous sectors and activities guided by ILO recommendation 190. Although section 91 of the Children’s Act (Act 560) provides a list of hazardous child labor activities, the list is limited. Child Rights NGO, International Cocoa Initiative, ICI’s Director of Communications, Katie Bird, who said Farmers need more information and awareness to ensure that Children’s rights and access to development are not violated, while helping their parents on the farm.
ICI is a Swiss-based non-profit foundation that works to ensure a better future for children in cocoa-growing communities. A multi-stakeholder
