By Joseph Nana Yaw Cobbina
A non-governmental organization (NGO) has called on Ghanaians to fight against the menace of child labour which has been a major challenge confronting Africa as a whole.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, the Director of End Modern Slavery and Engaged Now Africa, both NGOs, Mr. Afasi Komla, said over the years children have been trafficked to work on farms and in fishing communities along the Volta River and coastal areas in Ghana.
Mr. Komla therefore appealed to the government to put up more schools in many farming and fishing communities to avoid children been used as a cheap labour by unscrupulous adults with the connivance of their parents.
According to him, every work that deprived a child from going to school has negative mental, physical and emotional effects on the child. He was speaking in connection with the celebration of this year’s World Day Against Child Labour, which falls on 12th June. This year’s celebration is on the theme: “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour.”
The reason why this year celebration is unique is that the organization has realized that Faith base are every instrumental in our society so to organised it at the Old Ningo Presbyterian church of Ghana. “We all have to come on board to end child labour from the system,” he mentioned.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 as a way to highlight the plight of these children. The day is intended to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour and provides and opportunity to gain support from governments, civil society, schools, youth and women’s groups as well as the media, in the campaign against child labour.
If you would like some ideas to help your school mark World Day Against Child Labour you can read through our article on Child Labour, which provides an introduction to some of the issues. You can also search for teaching resources by browsing through the resources listed on our database under the topics of Child Labour or Child Right.
