Fight against child labour is a shared responsibility – Project Coordinator

Mr. Ebenezer Somiah, Project Coordinator of Codesult Network, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), says it is vital for all stakeholders to join forces and devise efficient measures to win the fight against child and forced labour in the country.

He said it was imperative for everyone, including chiefs, Assembly, and Unit Committee Members, to support every effort to eradicate child and forced labour, especially within cocoa-growing and mining communities.

He made these remarks when the NGO held a quarterly District dialogue for the first quarter of 2024, at Bibiani in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Municipality of the Western North Region, to assess their performance, shortcomings, and the way forward in achieving their set targets.

The dialogue was organised in collaboration with Rainforest Alliance and other partners, with funding support from the Norwegian Government through NORAD. It was to discuss and seek companies and the government’s commitment to preventing child and forced labour in cocoa-growing and mining communities.

Participants were drawn from government agencies such as Social Welfare, Ghana Education Service, Labour Department, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and Information Services Department (ISD).

Others were representatives from cocoa-buying and mining companies as well as twenty observers from ten communities within the Bibiani Municipality. Mr. Somiah described child and forced labour as the participation of children in economic and non-economic activities that affect their education, health, and physical development.

He called on residents in areas where the situation was prevalent to assist in providing information on parents who engaged their children in the act for the necessary action against them. Some of the participants who interacted with the Ghana News Agency after the program pledged their commitment to work together to stop the child and forced labour menace in their respective communities.

They also praised Codesult Network and its partners for their immense contribution in the areas of portable drinking water, markets, classroom blocks, and other skill training for the youth in the Municipality.