In Ghana, approximately 21.8 percent (1.9 million) of children aged between five and 17 are engaged in child labour with 14.2 percent (1.2 million) of the children engaged in hazardous child labour as defined by the Law. Ghana has robust laws setting forth the rights of children and criminalizing trafficking, but enforcement of these laws is weak. Both the 2014 and 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) reports highlighted this lack of implementation. The report downgraded Ghana to Tier 2 Watchlist and reiterated the findings of the 2014 report, emphasizing official acknowledgment that prosecutors lack training and resources for law enforcement; anti-trafficking training has not been provided to prosecutors since 2011.
Last year, our Child Rescue team made up of foreign and local volunteers conducted an operational assessment in fishing areas along the beaches of Central region and the Volta lake in the Volta region of Ghana to determine the scale of child trafficking and forced labour. Over the course of 21 days, data collectors conducted interviews with children and adults in a total of 100 occupied boats (canoes) classifying the trafficking status of all children interviewed or observed.
The operational assessment found that more than half of the children working on the Volta lake were trafficked into forced labour. Across the child labour predominant communities in the two regions, most respondents estimated that 50% or more of the children working in the fishing industry migrated from other communities. Data collected found that children trafficked into the fishing industry had contractual agreements for their exploitation, which were frequently between the trafficker and the child’s parent/guardian.
In most of the communities visited, several factors distinguished trafficked from non-trafficked children, including: access to education, working conditions—such as working longer hours and being assigned more intense, hazardous, or difficult tasks—and improper clothing and shelter. Young boys between the ages of 3years and 6 years are forced to work by diving deep into muddy waters to untangle fishing nets, wove and mend nets, control outboard motors, scoping water from the canoes and peddling of canoes. The most common tasks given to girls were processing, preserving, and selling fish. This include cleaning the fish by de-gutting and de-scaling, smoking, salting, sun-drying, pickling and/or packaging the fish; smoking the fish comprised approximately half of all descriptions of this process. According to the team, various injuries and health problems such as bites/stings from fishes, cuts, fish poisoning, bruises, abrasions, back injuries, broken bones, blistered hands and feet, head injuries, burns, visual impairment and bone deformities are but some of the major dangers these children are exposed to.
Child labour prevents millions of children from receiving an education. We discovered that one of the main reasons for the high rate of children involved in labour is the lack of awareness and education for the entire communities. Many community members do not see the benefits of education, while others judge that it is better for children to work in a trade from a young age, rather than ‘waste their time” in school.
Although most of the fishermen agree that it is not good for the children to be working on the boats or on the shore, when confronted with the issue of child labour, many also believe that it is far cheaper to employ them and “pay them a little something,” than encourage them to go to school. Ghana as a country has only 3 rehabilitation centers for rescued victims of child trafficking and child labour. Support from the chief and elders are critical for the formation of this project, and will further guarantee community support.
Dream Africa has initiated a project called ‘Child Labour Elimination and Victim Education project’ that seek to rescue children from the clutches of human traffickers and early marriage, to provide quality medical care and education, to expose the organized networks of human trafficking, to rehabilitate and reintegrate the rescued children, to create awareness, to provide training programs for self-help groups and to influence policy making related to anti-trafficking. There have been many reported cases of maltreatment and abuse meted out to children in our society which are retarding the development of these children and growth of society.
Even though there have been some interventions by government, more attention is needed to solve this menace which is gradually eating into our social fiber. The recent increase in the activities of traffickers, and media report on child trafficking and child labour on the Volta Lake, and other coastal areas of the country calls for immediate action to curb the menace. The project will form a Rescue and Awareness Campaign Team to create awareness in fishing communities of Ghana especially in the Central and Volta region where many children are trapped. Our programs are based on the theory of change aimed at creating a free country of child exploitation. The organization does not only help victims but also tackles the problem at its roots. The main strategies of our project will include Prevention, Provision, Promotion, Prosecution, Partnership and Participation.
The project will construct a Child Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Kasoa (Central Region) and Ho (Volta Region) of Ghana. The centre will provide optimal care for the children as we work at getting them quality basic education, healthcare, shelter and nurture them to become useful citizens in the society. Our Rescue Team will collaborate with the Social Development Department of Ghana, and the Ghana Police Service to rescue children trapped in child labour in the fishing communities of the two regions (Central and Volta Regions). Rescued children will undergo rehabilitation at our centers with the help of our medical team, and reintegrated back to their families. Families whose children are rescued will receive a Seed Capital to start business or trade in order to empower them economically.
The expected outcome of this project is that the government will implement laws and policies; communities will be watch dogs against traffickers, and families will be educated to protect the rights of children. Central Region and Volta Region will no longer be a hub for child labour.