Mr. Prince Gyamfi, Deputy Country Director of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) has urged the media to educate the public on child labour in cocoa farming communities to safeguard the lives children.
Quoting available statistics, he said about 16 million children globally were child labourers with Ghana and Ivory coast also using Child labourers.
Facilitating in a three-day capacity building workshop on child labour and forced labour in Kumasi for about 40 Journalists , Mr Gyamfi said Journalists were well placed to fight the menace, particularly in cocoa growing areas, where it deprived the children of education, good health and safety.
The programme jointly organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and ICI aimed at deepening participants’ understanding of the concept of child labour and forced labour.
It also aimed at developing the knowledge and skills for writing ethical reports on child and Forced labour.
Mr Gyamfi observed that the consequences of child labour could be dire in times of injuries, health and educational deprivation.
He appealed to parliament to enact all the necessary laws to ensure that children and young persons received special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.
“Every child has the right to be protected from engaging in work that constitutes a threat to the health education and environment” He added.
He explained that not all work performed by children was child labour as children under the age of13 were not legally permitted to engage under employable work according to the international Labour law.
He said the ILO permitted light work for children of age13 years as long as the work did not fall under the scope of Worst Form of child labour.
Mr Gyamfi said works that were not harmful to children’s health, safety and did not interfere with their school attendance were deemed to help them to socialize, take responsibility and contribute to their countries economy.
He said minimal domestic chores could be done to assist parents on the basis of non – hazardous activities and work must be done under the supervision of responsible adult.
He stressed that light work that did not affect the child’s physical and mental development must be done for limited hours not more than two hours per day and 14 hours per week.
M r. Kofi Adu Domfeh of the Multi media group urged journalist to be security conscious and be tactful in investigating into storiesto avoid deaths and threats
He urged participants to always put the interest of the public first in writing their stories saying the journalist was always accountable to the public and must be backed with integrity.