CHILDREN COULD BE USED ON COCOA FARMS WITHOUT FLOUTING CHILD LABOUR LAWS-I.C.I. CLARIFIES
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Mr. Prince Gyamfi-Deputy Country Director, I.C.I. interacting with the journalists at the workshop |
For the avoidance of doubt, cocoa farmers could engage their children in cocoa production activities without breaching any law on child labour. What is important is for such children to do activities relative to their ages under the supervision of a responsible adult without compromising on the safety, health, formal education and physical development of the child. Also, no work done for a parent can be described as forced labour.
The
Deputy Country Director of the International Cocoa Initiative, a multinational
organization concerned with the cocoa production value chain, Mr. Prince
Gyamfi, gave the advice in Kumasi in the Ashanti region, during training
workshop for selected journalists from some parts of the country.
The
four-day training workshop was organized by the Ghana Agriculture and Rural
Development Journalists’ Association, GARDJA, and jointly funded by the
International Cocoa Initiative, I.C.I., a multinational organization concerned
with the cocoa production value chain, Rainforest Alliance and Solidaridad.
The journalists were trained in topics
relative to child labour, forced labour, trafficking, national and
international legal frameworks on child and forced labour as well as ethical
reporting on child and forced labour. The participants, both members and non-members
of GARDJA, were from the Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Western and
Western North regions with the resource persons carefully selected
from
both the cocoa industry and media. The training and topics had become necessary
as a result of continued misconception by a section of the public especially
the media and even some players within the cocoa production value chain that it
is totally unlawful for children to be involved in production of the commodity
anywhere.
The Deputy Country Manager of the
International Cocoa Initiative, Mr. Gyamfi, apart from exposure to agro
chemicals in any form, children, based on their age, could be engaged in cocoa
production legally provided they will not be deprived of formal education and
also protected.
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| Richmomd Frimpong-President, GARDJA |
“Child labour is real. We must also say that not all work done by children constitute child labour. There are some work that children can do in cocoa production. And also at home. Those work include picking of cocoa pods, scooping cocoa beans from the broken pods. Those work could be done by children whose ages are 13, 14, 15, 16, 17”, the I.C.I. Deputy Country Director explained.
Mr.
Gyamfi, though expressed fear that, more Ghanaian children risk being pushed
into child labour due to prevailing socio-economic difficulties in the country,
the problem of child labour could be substantially addressed if the government
rigorously pursues for the acceptance and commitment of the international cocoa
market players the Living Income Differentials for cocoa farmers, among other
initiatives to increase income of the farmers.
The President of
GARDJA, Richmond Frimpong, charged the participants to bring to bear the
knowledge acquired so as to clear the existing misunderstanding among the
public about using children in cocoa farming.
Mr. Frimpong said, ‘what necessitated this training is
to clear the mind around child labour issues in this country. And the very
important personalities who can help clear those minds is journalists. At the
end of the day, we expect journalists from the community to be able to champion
and communicate well to the people and their understanding about child labour
issues in the country.’
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