Government Protest US decision on cocoa (Pg 38)
The government has expressed strong reservation over the decision of the United States government to include cocoa from Ghana on its Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act (TVPRA).
“This is unacceptable and serves to undermine the efforts that we are making to address the issue of worst forms of child labour, as well as a disincentive for other countries to embark on any comprehensive effort,” it said.
The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, made the pronouncement at the second meeting of the International Joint Working Group for Cocoa Labour Practices in Accra yesterday.
The meeting provided the platform for Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the global chocolate industry and civil society the opportunity to jointly assess cocoa sector labour practices common to both countries, as well as formulate appropriate strategies to guide and co-ordinate remediation activities.
The Vice-President indicated that the government was of the view that cocoa from Ghana be expunged from the TVPRA list.
Mr Mahama noted that the government, through the National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Cocoa Sector (NPECLC), a department under the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare (MoESW), had willingly put in place a sound and workable framework for eliminating all forms of child labour in the cocoa sector by working with all the concerned stakeholders.
He said a Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework (HAF) which defined hazardous and acceptable work activities had also been developed and urged the MoESW to effectively disseminate the document to bring about attitudinal change to prevent children from being engaged in hazardous work.
He said a lot of progress had been made in that regard through pilot and scale-up surveys and effective co-ordination of interventions to reduce child labour in the cocoa sector and the effective mobilisation of stakeholders at all levels to work collectively on the issue.
He stated that none of the nine surveys conducted by national and international organisations cited the unconditional worst forms of child labour on the country’s cocoa farms.
He said even though that vindicated the country, it did not reduce the complexity and nature of the issue.
He said attempts to eliminate the problem needed a collaborative effort and, therefore, urged the country’s partners, especially the global chocolate industry, to do more to support the ministry and the Ghana Cocoa Board to accelerate the remediation activities.
On the citing of gold and tilapia on the TVPRA and the US Executive Order 13126, the Vice-President said although a lot had been done, a lot more needed to be done.
He, therefore, charged the MoESW to develop comprehensive programme along the NPECLC (cocoa programme) for the fishing, quarrying and mining sectors within the framework of the National Plan of Action on child labour, taking into consideration all the experiences gained in implementing the cocoa programme, adding that district and metropolitan chief executives must also take the elimination of child labour seriously and input it into their medium-term development planning.
He stated that the appearance of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire on the US Department of Labour (USDOL) list indicated that the stakeholders in the cocoa sector had not reached a consensus on common indicators and benchmarks for measuring the impact of child labour.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises, Mr Jacob P. Hayibor, for his part, said a lot of progress had been made towards the elimination of child labour in areas where remediation activities had been implemented.
He said even though the NPECLC programme would end in 2011, there was the need to extend it to cover other areas yet to benefit from the various interventions.
“This is unacceptable and serves to undermine the efforts that we are making to address the issue of worst forms of child labour, as well as a disincentive for other countries to embark on any comprehensive effort,” it said.
The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, made the pronouncement at the second meeting of the International Joint Working Group for Cocoa Labour Practices in Accra yesterday.
The meeting provided the platform for Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the global chocolate industry and civil society the opportunity to jointly assess cocoa sector labour practices common to both countries, as well as formulate appropriate strategies to guide and co-ordinate remediation activities.
The Vice-President indicated that the government was of the view that cocoa from Ghana be expunged from the TVPRA list.
Mr Mahama noted that the government, through the National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Cocoa Sector (NPECLC), a department under the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare (MoESW), had willingly put in place a sound and workable framework for eliminating all forms of child labour in the cocoa sector by working with all the concerned stakeholders.
He said a Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework (HAF) which defined hazardous and acceptable work activities had also been developed and urged the MoESW to effectively disseminate the document to bring about attitudinal change to prevent children from being engaged in hazardous work.
He said a lot of progress had been made in that regard through pilot and scale-up surveys and effective co-ordination of interventions to reduce child labour in the cocoa sector and the effective mobilisation of stakeholders at all levels to work collectively on the issue.
He stated that none of the nine surveys conducted by national and international organisations cited the unconditional worst forms of child labour on the country’s cocoa farms.
He said even though that vindicated the country, it did not reduce the complexity and nature of the issue.
He said attempts to eliminate the problem needed a collaborative effort and, therefore, urged the country’s partners, especially the global chocolate industry, to do more to support the ministry and the Ghana Cocoa Board to accelerate the remediation activities.
On the citing of gold and tilapia on the TVPRA and the US Executive Order 13126, the Vice-President said although a lot had been done, a lot more needed to be done.
He, therefore, charged the MoESW to develop comprehensive programme along the NPECLC (cocoa programme) for the fishing, quarrying and mining sectors within the framework of the National Plan of Action on child labour, taking into consideration all the experiences gained in implementing the cocoa programme, adding that district and metropolitan chief executives must also take the elimination of child labour seriously and input it into their medium-term development planning.
He stated that the appearance of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire on the US Department of Labour (USDOL) list indicated that the stakeholders in the cocoa sector had not reached a consensus on common indicators and benchmarks for measuring the impact of child labour.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises, Mr Jacob P. Hayibor, for his part, said a lot of progress had been made towards the elimination of child labour in areas where remediation activities had been implemented.
He said even though the NPECLC programme would end in 2011, there was the need to extend it to cover other areas yet to benefit from the various interventions.
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