Table of Contents
Introduction
All over the world child labor is one of the leading problems countries are battling to curb. Ghana is no exemption to this problem. ‘Child labor refers to children working in contravention of ILO standards contained in 138 and 182. This means all children below 12 years of age working in any economic activities, those aged below 12 and 14 engaged in more than light work, and all children engage in the worst forms of child labour.(FACTSHEET: CHILD LABOUR).
Statistics show that of all children in Ghana aged 5 to 17 years, about 21 percent are involved in child labor and 14 percent are engaged in hazardous form of labour.(Prevention of Child Labor). The children’s’ act of Ghana defines a child to be a person below the age of 18. Child labor continues to be a burden because of the beliefs some people hold, one of such being that ‘children who have experienced and survived child labor, have come out as stronger and more successful in life.’
This writing seeks to disprove this assertion by highlighting some flaws in this statement. In addition, according to International Labour Convention, child labour refers to the employment of children that deprived children of their childhood, their capacity and dignity and that is harmful to physical and mental development. Examples of child labour such as street hawking, selling ice water, selling newspapers on street, sewing clothes and shoes, working in agricultural, construction, mining and tourism industry, domestic work, child prostitution and drug trafficking.
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The International Child Rights Organizations such as UN CRC, Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Children’s Act have initiated laws and policies to protect the rights and welfare of children and to ban child labour as’ dangerous and injurious work ‘ which put harmful effects on the social, physical, mental, spiritual and health development of children. This writing begins by talking on some points opponents may raise and identifying the falsehood in these assertions.
It further explains why this assertion is disproved through the explanation of three key points which are infringements on rights, educational threats and health threats. Some reasons why some people may agree to this assertion are that child labor equips participants with skill be it for survival purposes or for work purposes and it aids children to support their families which may not become a problem with them in future.
Our opponents may argue to participants. Such activities as mining, fishing, street hawking are forms of child labor and they in deed provide participants with skills but pose some educational and health threats to children involved. It may also be said that child labor helps children to support their families which is one leading reason to this problem.
In supporting their families, some children who have irresponsible parents turn out not to cater for these children again, also some children in a bid to support their families are deprived their educational rights which is an infringement on their rights. That children engaging in economic activities should be encouraged because of the skills they may acquire as it may serve to be beneficial in future. It is however needful to note that there is a difference between child work and child labor and its difference lies in the threats it brings.
Health Threats
Poverty is seen to be the main cause of of child labour in most situations. Parents who can not take care of their families allow their children to work in these industries in order to put food on their table and provide for their basic needs themselves. Some parents see it as an opportunity for the child to learn life skills and prepare themselves fully for the future. Relating to health, child labour can cause harm to the children in the sense that, some children who work in these industries are abused. In these case children are abused emotionally, physically such as beating and slapping them, sexually such as rape especially female children.
A study conducted in turkey documented that 62.2% of the child labour were subjected to abuse at their workplace, 21.8% physical abuse,53.6% emotional abuse and 25.2% sexual abuse. Some children are made to are made to take part in sex trading which can lead to pregnancy and even sexually transmitted diseases. Also the abuse suffered by these children has led to mental health issues which has resulted in drug and substance abuse. Some children are made to do harmful jobs such as working in mines and farms.
Children who work in mines are at risk of getting respiratory diseases as well as factories because of the toxic chemicals produced. In a study made in India, working children suffer from anemia, gastrointestinal tract infections, skin diseases and high prevalence of high malnutrition, which if attention is not brought to it can cause them their lives. Dangerous jobs should not be linked to children. They can get seriously injured or get accidents that can lead to permanent disability or death.
Educational Threats
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), child labour is defined as any activity or work that is physically, mentally or socially harmful to children and interferes with their education by either depriving them the opportunity to school, obliging them to leave school permanently or requiring them to combine their schooling with excessively long and heavy work. UNICEF’s study on child labour in Ghana revealed that over 60% of children not going to school are engaged in child labour, (35.4%) or its hazardous work (28.3%).
While, the enrolment ratios kept increasing, completion ratio decreased for both primary and JHS in the 2013/2014 academic year. Many boys (39.9%) and girls (31.2%) in illegitimate work are not in school. (UNICEF Ghana, 2017) Children should be prohibited from working for income because it interferes with their schooling. According to Heady (2003), working children spent an average of an hour per week less in school thereby making them pay less attention to school work. (Gibbons et al, 2003) claim children working and schooling at the same time are not mutually exclusive.
Studies have shown that children working perform poorly in school and are most likely to dropout. Most of the children are unable to carry out school work because of fatigue. Some children in labour engage in physically demanding jobs such as mining, fishing, which render them tired and unable to partake in school activities. They are likely to drop out of school to work full time and this may affect their productivity in future.
Child labour does not make children responsible because it supplies them with less human capital needed to make their lives better in future. This may breed poverty and as a result of this, child labour is passed on to their children. (ILO, 2006) has shown that child labour reduces life time earnings by 13-20 percent. This increases the chances of children becoming poor in future.
Infringement of the Child Rights
The Children’s Act 1998-Ghana, defines a child as a person below the ages of eighteen. The Act defines so many rights that a child is entitled to. Anytime the right due the child is taken or denied or abused it means the rights of the child has been infringed upon or trespassed or overstepped and that becomes very worrying. One of the many ways a child’s right entitled to him in a country’s supreme law like it is in the supreme law of Ghana, then there is a problem.
In the context of this study, child labour an act of subjecting a child to rigorous or demanding work which denies him or her of her fundamental human right is to be focused on. What is child labour and why does it overstepped the rights of a child? The Children’s Act 1998 of the 1992 constitution Sub section five (5); article 87 clause 2 defines child labour as an exploitative act that deprives a child of his/her health, education or development. The minimum age by which any child can be accepted into a gainful employment is fifteen (15).
Further Discussion
Children are to assist parents with their works. Decades ago, parents in the traditional or rural settings of Ghana, held strongly to the believe that, giving birth to many children was key because they become your first point of man power. And so, that was the motivation for many to give birth to many and so abhor every attempt to introduce population control measures.
And so, the Ghanaian culture largely perceive children as helpers or man power to the original homes. So children work on farms and in the kitchen. There is no problem for a child to assist parents on those notes. Infringements set in when that child is denied some fundamental or basic needs.
According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchical needs theory, there are different types of needs and the broadest is the physiological needs followed by the safety needs and the social needs, self-esteem and to the self-actualization need. Child labour is when a child below age 18 with or without the consent of the parents is denied of his or her basic needs, safety and social needs and is compelled to work because of the cultural, social, economic, geographical and political factors. Anytime this happens to a child, then the child’s basic rights have been infringed upon.
A child working to support or assist the efforts of parents is not an infringement of rights but the moment that child is denied his or her basic, safety and social needs by the parents or the society, then such a child’s rights have been abused. In conclusion, the International Labour Convention require government to fulfill duties not to prevent children in doing their household chores which serve as an important avenue for performing family responsibilities.
The IL Convention also allows the children to afford them learn various opportunities to gain skills, talents and earn a means of livelihoods. Even though child labour should be banned, the government should carry duties to prevent children from working at ages that are too young or very young or for many hours that can ruin their development.
References
- Anonymous. (n.d.) FACTSHEET: CHILD LABOUR. Retrieved from unicef.org/protection/files/child_labour.pdf
- Anonymous. (n.d.) Prevention of Child Labor. Retrieved from unicef.org/Ghana/prevention- child – labour
- Gibbons et al, (2003). Child labour, education and the principle of non-discrimination [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/Child_Labour_Education_and_the_Principle_Of_Non-Discrimination.pdf
- ILO, (2006). The end of child labour: Within reach [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc95/pdf/rep-i-b.pdf
- UNICEF Ghana, (2017). National plan of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/ghana/media/1836/file/National%20Plan%20of%20Action%20to%20Eliminate%20the%20Worst%20Forms%20of%20Child%20Labour.pdf
