Over 11,522 children in seven cocoa growing regions of Ghana are engaged in hazardous child labour, the latest Child Rights International (CRI) child monitoring report has revealed.
Presenting the report dubbed “Sustaining efforts in the elimination of child labour in cocoa”, the Executive Director of CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said this year’s survey is designed to determine the prevalence rate of child labour in some cocoa farming communities in seven regions.
According to Mr Appiah, the study focused on the percentage of children engaged in child labour, those engaged in harzadous child labour, children at risk of child labour and children engaged in worst form of child labour.
“The survey also evaluated the risk factors that can be harmful to children mentally, physically, spiritually, socially and morally, as well as interference with their education by denying them the opportunity to attend school, forcing them to leave school prematurely. The report covered the period August 2020 to December 2021, Mr Appiah revealed.
Findings
Outlining some of the findings in the report, Mr Appiah said about 48.7% of children between the ages of five to 17 years had been engaged in economic activities in the past year before the survey.
Furthermore, the results of the survey revealed that 23. 3% of children had engaged in cocoa farming in the past year before the survey.
“About 28.1% of children are engaged in domestic chores,” Mr Appiah added.
Per the report, he said two out of every 10 children (22.5%) were engaged in hazardous child labour activities which might be harmful to their health, safety and well-being.
“A high proportion of children (19.3%) are engaged in harzadous child labour in cocoa value chain. Also, the result shows that 64.8 per cent of children are at risk of child labour in its worst form,” Mr Appiah indicated.
He said the results of the survey showed that 93.1 per cent of children who work on cocoa farm are engaged frequently on weekends.
According to Mr Appiah, CRI in collaboration with its partners, had devoted resources and manpower to address issues that stifle the growth and development of children.
” With the commitment to protect children and ensure that they grow in safe environment, CRI, with its partners, is working to tackle the issue of child labour and child protection in the cocoa growing communities,” he added.
Mr Appiah said the objective of the survey was to collect, analyse and report the incidence of child labour in cocoa growing communities.
” It was also to provide adequate information on child labour to support planning of intervention for community development,” he said.
Recommendations
Making recommendations on how to combat child labour, Mr Appiah said the government should coordinate planning, implementation and response to child labour activities in cocoa sector.
He also emphasised the need for regulatory bodies to ensure compliance with existing laws for curbing child labour.
Mr Appiah also called for sensitisation of dwellers in cocoa growing communities about the safety risks and health consequences facing children working on cocoa farms.
