US embassy cable - 04ACCRA1720

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