LET'S UPHOLD CHILDREN'S RIGHTS (PAGE 11)

Ghana joined the global community to mark the "World Day Against Child Labour" recently to create awareness of the negative effects of child labour.
Each year the day is celebrated on June 12, to link governments, employers and workers’ organisations, as well as civil society groups and others such as schools and the media, in the campaign against child labour, through advocacy and solidarity.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 as a platform for highlighting the global extent of child labour and focusing attention on global action to eliminate child labour.
Child labour had been identified by social workers as a big issue in the country. It involves using children to sell, to fish or work as surface miners or do other jobs that affect their rights, health and welfare, to fend for themselves or their parents and guardians.
“It becomes a human right abuse, especially in the case of children who are trafficked to work for people to earn income for their parents and guardians.
Child labour is closely associated with poverty. Many poor families are unable to afford school fees or other educational expenditure and, therefore, depend on the contribution that a working child makes to the household’s income; they tend to place more importance on that than on their education.
In spite of all the efforts being made to get more children into schools to improve their lot, the picture on the ground with respect to the rights and responsibilities of children in some communities is exactly the opposite and the enormity of the problems confronting children in those communities calls for immediate attention.
In 1998, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was adopted. It included the elimination of child labour as one of the four fundamental principles which the ILO members pledged to respect, regardless of whether they had ratified the relevant Conventions. In 1999, the ILO’s constituents adopted the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182).
Most children found involved in child labour are those who usually stay with a family member or a guardian. Sometimes, the children may not have any blood relation with the guardian, therefore they are made to go through all sorts of horrific abuse. They are overloaded with task and when they are not up to it, they are severely rebuked.
In support of the campaign against child labour, a workshop, dubbed Supporting Children's Right Through the Arts and Media (SCREAM), designed to build the capacity of educational practitioners to enable them to sensitise the public to the effects of child labour is underway in Kumasi.
About 25 participants drawn from the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions are participating in the workshop, which is also meant to strengthen the capacity of children to enable them to resist any form of child labour.
It is on the theme "Strengthening Children's Participation to Fight Against Child Labour Through SCREAM Methodology and Tools".
About 100 persons from the educational sector and other recognised institutions drawn from the Northern, Western, Ashanti and Eastern regions have already benefited from similar workshops to enable them to address the problems of child labour and its debilitating effects on children.
In her opening remarks, the Co-ordinator of SCREAM, Mrs Josephine Kufour-Duah, explained that the SCREAM training was aimed at building their capacity, and was carefully selecting programmes for children "who themselves should be seen as active stakeholders in the struggle against child labour".
She pointed out that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognised that children had the right to fully participate in matters directly affecting their lives and survival as future leaders.
Mrs Kufour-Duah noted further that since children are very forceful and powerful advocates towards their peers, they should be given the requisite support that would enable them create awareness and understanding of issues involving child labour.
Such initiatives, she said, would go a long way in the prevention and elimination of child labour, which has now become an issue in developing nations.
“SCREAM is meant to educate young people about child labour and its complexities, raising awareness in children using specific modules and provoking their emotional levels to the canker", she explained. She said with SCREAM, the youth would also be empowered to research issues bordering on child labour, human rights and children's rights such as the right to education, food, health, shelter and protection.
“With these initiatives, the youth would graduate from pupils to become community educators", Mrs Kufour-Duah explained further.
In another development, Mr Alexis Danikuu Dery, Senior Programmes Officer of the Assemblies of God Relief and Development Services (AGREDS) Ghana, has disclosed that since its inception, the organisation has rescued, rehabilitated and re-integrated a total of 728 girls in various communities within the country, particularly those from the three Northern Regions, under its Life Line Project, known as Elim Centre, reports the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
Briefing the GNA in Accra on the project on Thursday, Mr Dery stated that as part of its development agenda, the project, established a decade ago, was to provide skills training opportunities for the many trafficked girls languishing on the streets of Accra.
He said the AGREDS-Life Line selected the Agbogbloshie/Konkomba markets for the project, due to the nature of those communities, adding that they had large concentration of migrants from the Northern Regions, who were engaged in all sorts of menial jobs.
The programme officer mentioned unfavourable cultural practices, such as forced marriages, domestic violence and child abuse, among others, as the major contributory factors that led to the exodus of the girls out of their various communities.
Mr Dery said programmes currently being implemented by AGREDS-Life Line included an Early Childhood Development Centre in urban Accra-Agbogbloshie; Back to School; and an Integrated Vocational Skills Training in urban Accra, also based at Agbogbloshie, offering hairdressing, dressmaking, batik tie and dye and catering.
He disclosed that the long-term objective of AGREDS was to effectively contribute towards the progressive and sustainable elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
He mentioned inadequate funding to tackle the root causes of poverty through the provision of micro-credit support to families of trafficked girls; lack of transportation and other logistic support to embark on community sensitisation programmes in the rural areas; and inadequate incentives to motivate staff and volunteers, as problems militating against the success of the Project.