Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ACCRA1720
2004-08-24 08:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Accra
Cable title:  

GHANA: UPDATE OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR

Tags:  ELAB PHUM EIND ETRD SOCI GH AID 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001720 

SIPDIS

DOL/ILAB FOR TINA FAULKNER, DRL/IL FOR MARINDA HARPOLE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM EIND ETRD SOCI GH AID
SUBJECT: GHANA: UPDATE OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR
MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

REF: SECSTATE 163453

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001720

SIPDIS

DOL/ILAB FOR TINA FAULKNER, DRL/IL FOR MARINDA HARPOLE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM EIND ETRD SOCI GH AID
SUBJECT: GHANA: UPDATE OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR
MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

REF: SECSTATE 163453


1. This cable responds to the action in reftel to provide
information on child labor for mandatory DOL reporting
requirements. The information is presented in question/answer
format based on the questions asked in reftel.


2. Post's responses are as follows:

a) Does the country have adequate laws and regulations
proscribing the worst forms of child labor?

Ghana ratified ILO Convention 182 on June 13, 2000, and
passed the Children's Act in 1998. The Children's Act
establishes a minimum age for employment and prohibitions on
night work and hazardous labor and provides for fines and
imprisonment for violators. In addition, the legislation
allows for children aged 15 years and above to have an
apprenticeship whereby the craftsmen and employers have the
obligation to provide a safe and healthy work environment
along with training and tools. However, child labor laws are
not enforced effectively or consistently, and law enforcement
officials - including judges, police, and labor officials -
often are unfamiliar with the provisions of the law
protecting children. Inspectors from the Ministry of Labor
and Social Welfare are responsible for enforcement of child
labor regulations, and District labor officers and the Social
Services sub-committees of District Assemblies are charged
with seeing that the relevant provisions of the law are
observed. They visit each workplace annually and make spot
checks whenever they receive allegations of violations. All
law enforcement and judicial authorities in the country are
hampered by severe resource constraints and a lack of public
awareness about the problem. The 1998 Children,s Act defines
hazardous work as including: going to sea, mining and
quarrying, portage of heavy loads, manufacturing industries
where chemicals are produced or used, and work in places such
as bars, hotels and places of entertainment where a person
may be exposed to immoral behavior.


b) Does the country have adequate laws and regulations for

the implementation and enforcement of proscriptions against
the worst forms of child labor? Have there been any recent
governmental or judicial initiatives to strengthen or enforce
child labor legislation and regulations?

Existing laws do not provide for protection and
rehabilitation of the victim in child labor and child
trafficking cases, and do not specifically define
'trafficking' as a crime. Child trafficking intersects with
the problem of child labor at several junctions in Ghana.
Against this background, several government ministries, NGOs,
and others formed a National Task Force on Human Trafficking
in 2002. The chief aim of this task force was to draft a
human trafficking bill that would specifically define
trafficking as a crime and also to provide protection and
rehabilitation for victims of trafficking. The final draft of
the legislation has been approved, and the bill is likely to
be considered by Parliament in early 2005.

Although there are laws addressing child labor, the Ghanaian
judicial system labors under an enormous backlog of cases,
corrupt lower officials, unenforced judgments and general
lack of faith on the part of Ghanaian citizens. Judicial
officials have inadequate resources: no law clerks, few
published decisions in a common law country, no law library
outside the capital, and very few court reporters are
available to take notes during trials (most judges take their
own notes by hand). Enforcement of judgments is a problem;
therefore, litigants usually do not have much motivation to
use the courts. Court files can be lost and found and court
cases can be scheduled and delayed by bribing court clerks.
Yet, in spite of the obstacles, there are identified
energetic reformers within the system who are working to
bring about changes.


c) Has the country established formal institutional
mechanisms to investigate and address complaints relating to
the worst forms of child labor?

When Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment
inspectors find infractions of child labor laws during their
routine monitoring of companies' labor practices, they
generally inform the employers about the provisions of the
law and asked them to make changes. In 2003, there was no
record of any prosecutions for child labor resulting from
these inspections. Officials only occasionally punish
violators of regulations that prohibit heavy labor and night
work for children. In addition, the inspectors' efforts have
generally concentrated only in the formal sector, which is
not where most child labor is performed. According to
government officials, child labor is more of a problem in the
informal sector, which is more difficult to regulate.


d) What social programs have been implemented to prevent the
engagement of children in the worst forms of child labor and
to assist in removing children engaged in the worst forms of
child labor?

Within the limits of its resources, the Government is
committed to protecting the rights and welfare of children.
The Government spent 5 percent of GDP on education,
approximately 64 percent of which went toward basic education
in 2002. Education is compulsory through primary and junior
secondary school (the equivalent of grades 1 through 9);
however, education is not free. In practice, schools have
imposed fees of up to $50 (400,000 cedis) per term, despite
government regulations that these fees should not be more
than $10 (80,000 cedis). Parents are required to purchase
uniforms and books, as well as extra items listed in schools'
prospectuses. In addition, teachers have imposed extra
classes for an additional fee to supplement their incomes.
In 2002, the Minister of Education directed all fees above
$10 (80,000 cedis) to be refunded and required bills of
secondary schools to be vetted by District Directors of
Education before being sent to parents.

Some children are unable to attend school because they need
to work to supplement their family's income, they have to
travel long distances to reach the school, or there is a lack
of teachers, especially in more rural areas. In addition,
authorities do not regularly enforce children,s attendance
at school, and parents are rarely, if ever, sanctioned for
keeping their children out of school.

Females frequently drop out of school due to societal or
economic pressures, and there is a significant gap in
enrollment rates between males and females. According to
UNICEF, 80 percent of eligible children (84 percent of males
enrolled compared with 77 percent of females) were enrolled
in primary school in 2001-02. Primary school enrollment
figures were significantly lower in the rural northern areas;
in the Northern Region, 65 percent of eligible children (75
percent of males and 55 percent of females) were enrolled in
primary school in 2001-02.

According to Ministry of Education (MOE) data for 2001-02, 55
percent of males and 45 percent of females in the 12- to
14-year age range were enrolled in junior secondary school.
The 2001-02 advancement rate from junior secondary to senior
secondary school was 47 percent. Enrollment of women at the
university level in 2002 was less than half that of men.
The Government has taken some concrete steps to support
education, including support of "informal" schools
(NGO-sponsored schools that were not regulated by the
Government and provide nontraditional education),and has
increased emphasis on assuring that students progressed from
one school grade to another. The Government actively
campaigns for girls' education, and the Minister of State for
Primary, Secondary, and Girl-Child Education is responsible
for addressing gender-related issues in education. The Ghana
Education Service (GES) prepared a Five Year Action Plan for
Girls' Education in Ghana 2003-2008 and offers the following
programs during the year: "Science and Technology and
Mathematics Education" clinics nationwide; scholarships for
girls at the Junior Secondary School and Senior Secondary
School levels; and incentives for female teachers to teach in
rural areas and sensitize students, parents, and community
members on girls' education. In addition, the GES has placed
Girls Education Officers at the regional and district levels.


e) Does the country have a comprehensive policy aimed at the
elimination of the worst forms of child labor?

ILO/IPEC, government representatives, the Trades Union
Congress, the media, international organizations, and NGOs
continue to build upon the 2001-02 "National Plan of Action
for the Elimination of Child Labor in Ghana," by increasing
institutional capacity to combat child labor. Education and
sensitization workshops are conducted with police, labor
inspectors, local governments, and communities.

In 2004, ILO (in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower,
Development, and Employment) hosted a series of workshops to
launch the new Timebound program, which requires Ghana to
demonstrate progress on eliminating the worst forms of child
labor within a specified amount of time. These workshops
enjoyed support from several government ministries as well as
NGOs and international organizations.


f) Is the country making continual progress toward
eliminating the worst forms of child labor?

Child labor, especially in the informal sector, remains a
problem in Ghana. The government is sorely underresourced to
fight the problem, and faces many limitations in its ability
to fight and prosecute the problem under existing laws. The
government and NGOs in Ghana face the additional challenge of
sensitizing communities to the problem at a very fundamental
level. While many people say they want the problems of child
labor and child trafficking eradicated, there is still wide
cultural acceptance of these practices. Poverty is frequently
and accurately cited as the main reason for the problems, but
NGO leaders close to the issues also cite others ) the low
status of children in a very hierarchical society, lack of
family planning, and polygamy. But the government and NGOs
are making progress, as growing numbers of traditional
leaders, parents, and laborers seem to understand that these
are practices they should not engage in.

In particular reference to child trafficking, a fundamental
problem is the lack of an anti-trafficking law, which has
been in progress for well over two years in Ghana. A draft
bill is currently sitting at the Attorney General,s office,
waiting for the Ministry of Women,s and Children,s Affairs
(MOWAC, the ministry with the mandate to submit the bill) to
put it before Parliament. Citing bad timing on the
parliamentary calendar (not to mention presidential and
parliamentary elections later this year),several government
sources say the bill is likely to be tabled until 2005. Some
government officials cite the normal and lengthy process as
the reason for the delay. NGO leaders involved in the
National Task Force to create the bill, however, point to a
dispute between ministries over ownership of the bill.


3. End text.
YATES