Child labour committees inaugurated in Cape Coast

Cape Coast, July 12, GNA- Mr Peter Dery, Cape Coast Municipal Co-ordinating Director, on Wednesday urged members of the Community Child Labour Committees established in the municipality to be vigilant and expose perpetrators of child labour in their communities. He made the appeal when he inaugurated the committees for Ekon, Amanful, Brofoyedru, Idun, Gyegyano, Bakaano, London Bridge, Abakam, Tantri and Intsin, communities in the municipality, at Cape Coast. Mr. Dery said it was immoral to engage children in hazardous work, which posed danger to their growth and development and urged parents and other stakeholders to collaborate with the committees to eliminate child labour.

Mr. Divine Opare, the Central Regional Director at the Department of Children of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, asked parents to take proper care of their children and to provide them with their educational and health needs to promote their development. He advised parents to take advantage of the School Feeding Programme and Capitation Grant to send their children to school to enable them to acquire skills and knowledge needed for national development.

Mrs. Baaba Fleischer, a member of the Child Labour Monitoring System Project, attributed moral decadence partly to the prevalence of child labour and the lack of parental care. Mr. Ebenezer Aggrey, Principal Investigator of the Regional Secretariat of the Commission of Humana Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), speaking on child rights urged parents to protect the rights of their children.

Mr. Edward Abladoo, the Executive Director of Charity Care Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, said the NGO has so far registered 134 children out of a target of 300 children being engaged in child labour in the municipality.

He said 87 children were presently being sponsored to attend basic schools, whilst 40 of them undergoing apprenticeship in various trades.