By: Seraphine Nyuiemedi
Child labour can be detrimental to the health and well-being of children involved and therefore must be curbed to protect and safeguard their future. In line with this, the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trades Union Congress has rolled out a series of fora for fisherfolk and selected Media Practitioners in the Volta Region to help in the fight against the menace.
At one of such forums at Kpando Torkor in the Kpando Municipality, the Deputy General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe said his entity is collaborating with the Community Child Protection Committee with support from its international partners has rescued nearly 2,000 children on the Volta lake in the area since the inception of its child labour activities.
Communities along the Volta lake in the Volta Region have been identified as hotspots for child labour and all forms of modern-day slavery. Any work that threatens the development, morality, health and education of children from age 0 to 17 is identified as child labour.
The Deputy General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe said GAWU with support from the Ghana Navy has been able to train about 15 youths in Kpando Torkor as divers to replace works done by child labour victims. He said Kpando Torkor and its environs have been declared child labour free zone.
Mr. Tagoe added that his office will extend its work to other communities along the Volta Lake such as Aveme in the North Dayi District and Bumbula among others. He mentioned politics and chieftaincy as some of the challenges hampering their work.
He called for collaboration and cooperation of the public and all stakeholders in the employment space to help curb child labour on the Volta Lake and the country as a whole.
A child labour victim who has been rescued by GAWU some years ago, Doodu Ernest Nii urged parents who engage their children in labour to desist from it but instead support them to become useful citizens.
