Crackdown on child labour

2003-07-16 10:32

Accra - A project was launched in Accra on Tuesday to prevent and eliminate the use of child labour on cocoa farms and in other agricultural sectors in five countries in West Africa.

The three-year West Africa cocoa/agriculture project seeks to remove and educate about 10 000 children from the farms.

It will also help to train farmers in issues of child labour and occupational safety and health, said the Ghana News Agency.

Children working on farms are denied education, which has a negative impact on human-resource development in the region.

Ghanaian senior minister Joseph Mensah said the west African state, which is the world's second-largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast, would do everything in its power to eliminate the practice and hand out stiffer punishment to offenders.

Mensah said the move was not because of the threat of a boycott of its cocoa products, but an effort to stem enslavement, which constitutes a gross violation of human rights under the country's laws.

However, the implementation of the project was made necessary by the threat of a boycott of cocoa products by consumers in Europe and the United States.

They have expressed concerns about the persistent reports of the engagement of children in cocoa production in west Africa.

Vocational training also an option

The move to shun cocoa products would likely put into jeopardy the economic viability of the countries, most of which depend highly on cocoa as a major source of foreign exchange.

Delegates from Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, the European Union and the United States joined their host, Ghana, to set up the project.

Apart from the initial goal of getting children off farms and into schools, it also is seeking ways to ensure the children who do not have the opportunity to go to school are given vocational training.

The International Labour Organisation estimated that more than 250 million children between 5 and 14 around the world were put to work, and about 70% were doing farm work.

The project is being supported with funds from the United States department of labour and leading chocolate manufacturers, cocoa processors and trade associations in Europe and the United States under the ILO international programme on the elimination of child labour.

There are also plans to improve the income earning capacity of at least 500 adults and prevent about 70 000 children between the ages of 13 and 18 from engaging in hazardous work.

The target would be achieved through five key areas of intensive awareness creation, capacity building, social protection measures such as education and training, an effective monitoring system and information dissemination. - Sapa-DPA

- SAPA