The Labour Department, in partnership with International Justice Mission (IJM), has begun a capacity-building programme for law enforcement officers to strengthen Ghana’s response to child labour and human trafficking.
The training brings together officers from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Cocoa Board and other relevant institutions, with a focus on improving their ability to identify, prevent, investigate and respond to cases of child exploitation and trafficking.
Head of the Child Labour Unit of the Labour Department, Mrs Esther Ofori Agyemang, said the programme was critical to ensuring that officers understood the legal framework governing child labour and could properly distinguish between lawful work by children and activities that amounted to child labour.
She said some forms of light work could be permissible for children provided they did not interfere with their education, health, development or wellbeing.
“What is important is for us to understand the conditions under which an activity becomes child labour or human trafficking,” Mrs Ofori Agyemang said, stressing that a clear understanding of the law was necessary for effective enforcement and to prevent its misapplication.
She said the inclusion of the Ghana Cocoa Board and other institutions in this year’s programme was intended to strengthen inter-agency collaboration in tackling child labour and trafficking.
The Labour Department, she added, planned to extend the training to other regions to equip more law enforcement officers with the knowledge and skills needed to protect children from exploitation.
Government Relations Specialist at IJM, Mr Benjamin Akyena Brantuo, said the organisation remained committed to supporting the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment, particularly the Labour Department and its Child Labour Unit, in strengthening Ghana’s justice response to child exploitation.
He said IJM had worked with the Child Labour Unit for the past four years under Ghana’s National Accelerated Action Plan on Child Labour.
According to Mr Brantuo, the partnership had involved not only training but also support for the preparation of the annual child labour report, monitoring and evaluation activities, and the commemoration of the National Day Against Child Labour.
He said IJM was also preparing to support a forced labour seminar scheduled for November.
The participants were urged to apply the knowledge acquired to their respective institutions and deepen cooperation among agencies to ensure a coordinated response to child labour, trafficking, abuse and other forms of exploitation.
The programme forms part of broader efforts to strengthen Ghana’s institutional capacity to protect vulnerable children and improve enforcement of laws against child labour and human trafficking.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
