Accra, July 1, GNA- Mr. Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, Head of Programmes, General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trade Union Congress has been appointed as Regional Coordinator for Africa by the Global March Against Child Labour.
Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, President and Founder of the Global movement announced this on Saturday during a courtesy working visit to the country to ascertain first hand information on the progress being made to eradicate forced labour, child labour and the trafficking in cocoa beans production in Ghana through the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI).
Mr. Tagoe would be responsible for coordinating the activities of the movement in Anglophone countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, among others to create awareness through Trade Unions in Africa on the need to eradicate child labour.
His visit took him to a number of organizations involved in child labour issues such as the TUC, The Ghana Employers Association, officials from the ICI, the General Secretary of the Ghana Association of Teachers (GNAT), officials from the Ministry of Manpower Youth and Employment and the Ghana National Coalition on the Rights of the Child. Mr Satyarthi said there was a link between child labour, poverty and adult unemployment since those engaged in the use of children did not have to engage the services of adults who would use negotiations for their wages and that the practice was pervasive in cocoa growing areas in Africa.
He said Ghana had showed the way in Africa on the need to fight against child labour which needed attention from all stakeholders stressing the role of Non-Governmental Organisations, Teachers and Trade Unions as critical to achieving a success story in the fight. Mr. Satyarthi said the Agriculture sector, accounted for 70 percent of child labour worldwide, which indicated that the fight against child labour had not been won, adding Ghana's efforts in the fight, could be shared with the rest of the African countries.
He said the Global March movement was not only an NGO initiative and that it comprised of ICI, Teachers, TUC,s and Organisations such as employers who were directly or indirectly involved in the child labour issues.
Mr. Adu-Amankwa, General Secretary, TUC, said the issue of child labour had been part of the TUC and that it would not relent in its efforts in the fight against it. He said as a country aspiring to achieve a middle-income status, there was the need to pay attention to human resource development, which required the elimination of child labour from all sectors of the economy.
Mrs Elizabeth Hagan, Chief Labour Officer, Department of Social Welfare, said under the local government process, District Assemblies were required to develop their priority areas on child labour issues to ensure the rights of children.
He said most of the District Assemblies were currently sponsoring students from the training colleges who upon completion would return to their districts to help in the educational process, which was key to eradicating child labour. The Global March against Child labour has over 40 thousand NGO's in more than 140 countries and has been involved in a series of marches to draw the attention of the issue of child labour and its effects. The famous march in India by the movement in 1998 attracted over 20,000 NGO's to the International Labour Organization Convention on the worst forms of child labour.
