File photo
“Forced child labour on Volta Lake thrives with impunity. If only the
perpetrators could be brought to justice, this violent and abhorrent form of child abuse can bestopped,” said Kaign Christy, Field Operations Director, International Justice Mission (IJM),bringing light to the issue of forced child labour in Ghana on World Day Against Child Labour.
An astonishing 21,000 children are forced to work in the fishing industry on and around the Volta Lake, according to the recently released 2016 Global Slavery Index.
These children, some as young as four, are forced to work long hours under brutal conditions.
Multiple published studies and IJM’s own research reveal that most of these children are deprived of an education, forced to work long hours in hazardous work, display symptoms of trauma, carry scars from beatings and suffer from effects of malnutrition.
A majority of children forced to work on Volta Lake are 10 years of age or younger and more than one in five of them are 6 years of age or younger.
Despite Ghana’s stringent laws against child abuse, very few child-traffickers have been held accountable for their crimes and brought for trial.
According to the US State Department’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons report, between 2012 and 2014, there was only one conviction in a case involving forced child labour—a sharp contrast from the number of children forced to work on
the Lake.
“Until traffickers are brought to justice, thousands of Ghanaian children will continue to risk their lives each day, working long, excruciating hours on Volta Lake,” said Mr. Christy.
“The time to act is now. Every minute we wait, thousands of children are being robbed of their childhood, a promising future and sometimes their lives.
"As we recognise the tragedy of child labour around the world, let us not forget the responsibility that lies with each one of us to end this scourge in Ghana.”
In light of World Day Against Child Labour, IJM urges Ghanaians to spread awareness about forced child labour on Volta Lake in their churches, schools, communities and governments and to work together to bring the brutality to an end.
