VZCZCXRO7801
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAR #0144/01 0511107
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201107Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7587
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0420

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ACCRA 000144 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/IL-TU DANG 
LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB-TINA MCCARTER 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI ELAB ECON GH
SUBJECT: GHANAQS 2009 UPDATE ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: STATE 127448 
 
¶1. Per reftel instructions, Post submits the following updated 
information on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor 
("WFCL") in Ghana.  POC for this report is Paul Stevenson 
(StevensonPW@state.gov). 
 
A) Laws and regulations proscribing the WFCL 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. Under the Children's Act ("CA") of 1998, Act 560, the minimum age 
for employment in Ghana is 15 years, and the minimum age for 
"lightwork" is 13 years (sections 89-90).  "Light work" is defined 
as economic activity that is not likely to be harmful to the health 
or development of a child and does not affect the child's attendance 
or capacity to benefit from school (CA section 90(2)).  Ghanaian law 
states that children who are 15 years or older, or who have 
completed basic education, can work as apprentices if the craftsman 
provides technical and moral training, food, and a safe and healthy 
work environment (CA sections 98-99).  The GOG has ratified ILO 
Convention 182 on the WFCL, but as of the end of 2008 it had yet to 
ratify ILO Convention 138 on the minimum age of employment. 
 
¶3. Ghanaian law prohibits the engagement of persons under 18 years 
of age in "night work", that is, work conducted between 20:00 and 
06:00 hours (CA section 88).  Children must not be engaged in labor 
that deprives them of their health, education, or development (CA 
section 87).  A non-exhaustive list of "hazardous work" - which also 
has a minimum age of 18 years - includes: work at sea, mining and 
quarrying; carrying heavy loads, manufacturing that involves 
chemicals, work in places that operate machinery, and work in bars, 
hotels, and other places of entertainment (CA section 91(3)).  The 
Child Labor Unit within the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and 
Employment ("MMYE") is currently reviewing this list to better 
reflect current trends of hazardous work in the country, and has 
completed its analysis for the cocoa industry. 
 
¶4. Ghanaian law prohibits forced labor, slavery, or servitude of 
anyone, including children (Constitution, article 16).  Customary 
servitude is illegal in Ghana (Consolidation of Criminal Code 1960, 
Act 29 section 314A).  The law prohibits persons with custody, 
charge, or care of a child under 16 years from encouraging, or 
causing that child to become involved in, prostitution 
(Consolidation of Criminal Code, Act 29 section 108).   The minimum 
age for military recruitment is 18 years and there is no forced 
conscription. 
 
¶5. The Human Trafficking Act ("HTA") 2005, Act 694 contains 
provisions against trafficking in persons, providing another person 
for trafficking, and using a trafficked person.  Consent of the 
child, parent, or guardian is not a defense (HTA section 1).  Police 
officers must respond to all requests for assistance from 
trafficking and must offer protection to persons who report cases of 
alleged trafficking, even if such a person is not a victim (HTA 
section 10).  The law provides for the rescue, temporary shelter and 
care, counseling, family tracing, and rehabilitation of victims of 
trafficking (HTA sections 14-19), and establishes a Human 
Trafficking Fund to assist victims (HTA section 20).  In 2008, 
Parliament amended the HTA to insert the phrase "for the purpose of 
exploitation", which was mistakenly omitted from the definition of 
trafficking when the law was passed in 2005. 
 
B) Implementation and enforcement of WFCL laws 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶6. The MMYE is responsible for enforcing child labor laws.  District 
labor officers and other district officials are responsible for 
conducting annual workplace inspections in the formal and informal 
sectors and for investigating allegations of violations.  The 
Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police 
Services is responsible for enforcing anti-trafficking laws.  There 
is also an Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Organized Crime Section of 
the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Ghana Police 
Service. 
 
¶7. Persons who violate the legal provisions regulating children's 
employment, except laws that involve apprenticeships, are subject to 
a fine and/or a maximum of two years of imprisonment (CA section 
94).  Employers who operate in formal sector must keep a register 
with birthdates or apparent ages of the children they employ (CA 
section 93).  Failure to keep this register is an offence punishable 
by fine (CA section 94).  Trafficking provisions carry a penalty of 
at least 5 years of imprisonment (HTA section 2(2)). 
 
¶8. In February 2007, there was one successful prosecution of 
cross-border child trafficking; the trafficker received a sentence 
 
ACCRA 00000144  002 OF 005 
 
 
of six years' imprisonment.  From January to September 2007, DOVVSU 
received three cases on exploitation of child labor and four cases 
on internal child trafficking.  Two of the trafficking cases went to 
court and led to an acquittal and discharge.  At least another two 
cases of trafficking (one from 2006 another from 2007) are pending 
in court, and yet another is currently under investigation.  One 
case of child labor led to a cautioning but no conviction.  Another 
two cases of child labor are under investigation. In 2008, DIVVSU 
investigated eight cases of exploitation of child labor. The Ghana 
Police in July stopped four mini-vans heading toward the Cote 
dQIvoire (CDI).  The vans contained 155 children reportedly going to 
work in agriculture in CDI.  The children were returned to their 
homes.  Also in July, police freed fifteen children from a religious 
teacher in northern Ghana.  The children were being forced into 
begging for alms, for which in return they received minimum care and 
some religious instruction.  The instructor was arrested but was out 
on bail and at yearQs end the case was still proceeding.  In August, 
twelve children were rescued from a vehicle heading toward CDI for 
work in agriculture.  The traffickers were arrested, but released on 
bail. In August, ten children, ages five to fifteen, were rescued 
near Accra from traffickers. 
 
 
¶9. According to DOVVSU officials, the penalties for violating child 
labor laws will deter some but not all violations, since the 
underlying causes of child labor, especially poverty, continue to 
exist.  Moreover, the enforcement of child labor laws is generally 
inconsistent and ineffective in Ghana.  Because many children work 
for relatives, their work is generally not seen as criminal but 
rather an attempt to contribute to family income.  Cases are also 
difficult to detect as most child labor is formed in the informal 
sector and child trafficking predominantly occurs within the country 
as opposed to across borders.  Thus, only extreme cases of child 
labor and child trafficking (e.g., cases that involve serious abuse 
and maltreatment) are reported. 
 
¶10. Some cases of child labor that do not end up in court are heard 
by Child Panels.  The Children's Act requires the establishment of 
such panels to mediate in criminal and civil matters concerning 
children.  By 2008, about 60 panels were formed with over 20 
functioning.  The GOG has also established a National Committee on 
Child Panels, whose operational and training guides are being 
finalized.  The Government of Ghana does not maintain a centralized 
data base on trafficking or child labor issues. 
 
¶11. Every year, DOVVSU conducts training workshops for its officials 
on domestic violence, child protection, and counseling of victims of 
abuse. In 2008, training was conducted across the country, including 
at the six police training schools.  In 2007, work was started on a 
training manual on child labor and child trafficking to be used in 
those districts where child labor is considered a serious problem. 
DOVVSU has completed a draft of the manual, which is being reviewed 
by the International Labor Organization (ILO). In 2008, the Ministry 
of Women and Children's Affairs ("MOWAC")carried out 
awareness-raising initiatives across the country. 
 
¶12. In 2007, the MMYE conducted a "Capacity Building Workshop for 
Child Labor Unit and Key Officers of the Labor Department on the 
Interagency Collaboration and Coordination of Child Labor Monitoring 
System in Ghana", at workshops across Ghana. The training has 
continued, and in 2008 workshops were conducted in 47 districts 
across Ghana. Throughout 2008, the MMYE has worked with district 
assemblies to raise awareness on the issue of child labor in the 
cocoa sector. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
C) Social programs combating the WFCL 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. The GOG collaborates with ILO-IPEC on a 4-year USD 4.75 million 
DOL-funded Project of Support to the Ghana Timebound Programme.  The 
project seeks to withdraw 4,700 children and prevent 5,300 children 
from exploitative labor through the provision of educational 
services.  District and Community Child Labor Committees have been 
established in the 20 pilot districts involved in the Timebound 
Programme to serve as advocates against the WFCL in their 
communities.  The Timebound Programme is funded through June, 2009. 
 
¶14. The MMYE chairs a National Steering Committee for the 
elimination of child labor and a national sub-committee on child 
labor in the cocoa sector.  The GOG has established child protection 
committees in some communities at the regional and national levels, 
 
ACCRA 00000144  003 OF 005 
 
 
which monitor the movement of children to ensure that they attend 
school and are not being forced into hazardous labor or trafficking. 
The government, with sponsorship from UNICEF, is also mobilizing 
District Assemblies against the WFCL in cocoa, and on November 2007, 
has met with key stakeholders in about 45 districts. 
 
¶15. The GOG completed the last phase of the regional 
anti-trafficking LUTRENA project implemented by ILO-IPEC.  The 
project terminated in late 2007, when additional funding was not 
available   The GOG previously collaborated with ILO-IPEC on a 
4-year, USD 6 million West African Child Labor in Agriculture and 
Cocoa Program (WACAP), which ended in April 2006.  The project 
withdrew 8,813 children and prevented 2,880 children from 
exploitative labor in five countries, including Ghana. 
 
¶16. Between June and November 2007, MOWAC conducted a registration 
exercise of head porters (kayaye) in Greater Accra, in order to keep 
accurate records of street girls and establish mechanisms to 
eliminate the practice.  The work of kayaye - primarily carried out 
by girls and women who have migrated from northern regions of the 
country - involves transporting heavy bundles on their heads for low 
pay, often on busy streets.  A total of 2,432 head-porters, some as 
young as six years, were registered.  The MOWAC plans to conduct a 
similar exercise in other urban centers, however the Ministry was 
unable to fund additional studies in 2008.  MOWAC has approached the 
transport union and local district assemblies for help return and 
reintegrate the kayaye to their home areas.  A program may be 
implemented in 2009. 
 
¶17. Embassy contacts continue to describe inadequate social programs 
and insufficient resources to assist children who are withdrawn from 
the WFCL.  The Department of Social Welfare ("DSW"), with support 
from UNICEF and the French Embassy in Ghana, runs a shelter for 
abused children, with a capacity for one hundred children.   Other 
shelters for trafficked children and abused women and children are 
run by IOM, the Ark Foundation (a local NGO), and other 
institutions. 
 
¶18. The GOG has drafted a National Social Protection Strategy, 
administered by the DSW, which includes a conditional cash transfers 
program called "LEAP" (Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty). 
This program makes cash benefits to extremely poor and vulnerable 
persons, on the condition that parents not engage their children in 
child trafficking and child labor and enroll them in school. 
 
D) Comprehensive national policy to eliminate WFCL 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶19. In 2006, the MMYE released its five year National Program for 
the Elimination of the WFCL in the Cocoa Sector (NPECLC), which is 
one component of the Ghana Timebound Programme.  The objective of 
the NPECLC is to eliminate WFCL in cocoa production by 2011 and to 
contribute to the elimination of the WFCL in all sectors by 2015. In 
January, 2009, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare 
(formerly the MMYE) released a summary of status report on the 
National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor in the Cocoa Sector (NPECLC). The report notes that, to date, 
22,000 key stakeholders from 110 communities had received training 
on the issue of NPECLC and that those communities had formed 
committees to protect children from involvement in the worst forms 
of child labor.  The update also notes that 1,246 children had been 
supported to  attend basic education, and further, that 36 districts 
had agreed to scale up remediation efforts in 2009 through the 
implementation of District action plans. The Ministry of Employment 
oversees its implementation. 
 
¶20. As a component of the NPECLC, in April 2007 the GOG released a 
Pilot Survey on Cocoa Production in Ghana.  The survey covered six 
cocoa-growing districts and documented, among other things, the WFCL 
in these districts.  In 2007/2008 a scaled up survey was done 
covering 60% of GhanaQs cocoa growing districts.  Key findings 
included the following: cocoa farming is largely a family enterprise 
in Ghana; children work on cocoa farms on a part-time basis and over 
90% attend school; personal freedom of children working on cocoa 
farms is usually not restricted; and some children who work on cocoa 
farms are involved in hazardous activities.   The results of the 
MinistryQs survey were collaborated by a similar study conducted by 
Tulane University, also in 2007/8. 
 
¶21. The GOG specifically mentions child labor as a problem to be 
addressed in its Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II for 
2006-2009, which prioritizes programs designed to combat the WFCL 
such as commercial sexual exploitation and child trafficking.  The 
20 districts participating in the Timebound Programme have 
mainstreamed child labor elimination activities into their Medium 
Term Development Plans and budgetary allocations.  Ghana's National 
 
ACCRA 00000144  004 OF 005 
 
 
Policy Guidelines on Orphans and Other Children made Vulnerable by 
HIV/AIDS, specifically targets children affected by the WFCL. 
 
¶22. In 2006, the DOL awarded a USD 4.3 million contract to Tulane 
University for a project to study public and private efforts to 
eliminate the WFCL in cocoa sector in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.  In 
partnership with the West African Health Organization and University 
of Ghana's Institute on statistical Social and Economic Research, 
the project is studying the health effects of children working in 
hazardous conditions in the cocoa sector and the status of child 
labor monitoring and verification systems, as well as the child 
labor-free cocoa certification system mandated by the Harkin-Engel 
Protocol, which should cover a minimum of 50% of cocoa-growing 
regions in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.  The Harkin-Engel Protocol is a 
voluntary agreement signed by the World Cocoa Foundation and the 
Chocolate Manufacturers Association in September 2001.  Along with a 
joint statement issued October 1, 2005, the Protocol requires the 
chocolate and cocoa industry to help eliminate the WFCL in West 
Africa's cocoa sector.  In July, Tulane and other stakeholders 
attended a consultative meeting to review progress with the survey 
and to refine methodologies.  Tulane also presented its preliminary 
findings, based on the survey, which found that most children in 
cocoa growing areas of Ghana are involved in agriculture, typically 
on a family run farm, that the majority are receiving schooling, and 
that only a small percentage of children reported benefiting from 
projects in support of children in the cocoa growing areas.  Tulane 
in late 2008 was developing an inventory of programs working in 
cocoa areas. 
 
¶23. The Human Trafficking Management Board met in October 2007 to 
finalize a National Plan of Action to combat human trafficking, 
which was adopted in 2008 and is operational.  In December of 2008 
the Government of Ghana allocated approximately $75,000 to its Human 
Trafficking Fund, and has sought donor contributions for additional 
support. 
 
¶24. The Constitution provides for basic education that is "free, 
compulsory and available to all" (article 25).  However, in 
practice, education is not entirely free as children are often 
required to pay for uniforms, books, cultural and sports activities, 
and transportation to and from school.  Moreover, officials rarely, 
if ever, take children who are found to be working during the 
daytime and place them into schools.  The GOG has taken initiatives 
to increase access to basic education though itQs Free Compulsory 
Universal Basic Education Policy (FCUBE).  The Capitation Grant 
program continued in the 2007-2008 academic year, paying schools 
about $2.00 (GHC 3) per child to cover cultural, sports, and other 
school fees.  The national School Feeding Programme also helps 
alleviate the incidental costs associated with school attendance in 
certain areas. 
 
E) Progress towards eliminating WFCL 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶25. The most recent nationwide data on child labor in all sectors 
continues to be the "Ghana Child Labour Survey" published by the 
Ghana Statistical Service in March 2003. 
 
¶26. According to a report on "Children in Ghana" published in 2008 
by MOWAC and UNICEF, many children are found in the agricultural 
sector where they participate in the production, harvesting, and 
head-loading of food crops and livestock herding.  Within the cocoa 
sector, children work primarily in family farms and are involved in 
carrying seedlings for planting, weeding, gathering pods, and 
carting fermented cocoa beans.  Some of their work is hazardous as 
it requires the use of dangerous tools or carrying heavy implements 
and farm produce. 
 
¶27. Ghana serves as a sending, receiving, and transit point for 
child trafficking, especially internal trafficking of children for 
use of child labor.  Many boys, and some girls, are trafficked to 
work in the fishing industry, especially on Lake Volta.  Boys are 
tasked to mend fishing nets and dive underwater to untangle nets, 
whereas girls are mainly involved in processing and selling fish. 
Children, some of whom are trafficked, are also found in the 
informal industrial and construction sectors, such as mining and 
stone quarrying.  Girls carry out domestic services in cleaning, 
child-care, fetching water, and selling goods.  Both boys and girls 
are occupied as street hawkers and fare collectors, and many girls 
work as head-porters (kayaye). 
 
¶28. In recent years, new sectors of child labor have recently become 
apparent in Ghana.  For example, newspapers report a growing use of 
child labor in kente weaving within the Volta Region.  While child 
labor continues to pose great challenges in the country, Embassy 
contacts confirm that educational efforts, better enforcement, and 
 
ACCRA 00000144  005 OF 005 
 
 
programs supported through the cocoa sector have led to greater 
public awareness of the harmful effects of child labor, especially 
its worst forms, and to efforts at remediation.