Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Ghana (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes that the Government did not send the report requested by the Committee. It therefore reiterates its previous observation as follows.

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). All forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information that an Anti-Human Trafficking Unit had been established under the Human Trafficking Act, 2005. It also noted from the written replies of the Government to the list of issues in relation to the initial report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 13 June 2016, that the Human Trafficking Legislative Instrument (L.I. 2219) was passed in November 2015 in order to aid effective implementation of the Human Trafficking Act (CCPR/C/GHA/Q/1/Add.1, paragraph 74). The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the application of the Human Trafficking Act and the Human Trafficking Legislative Instrument, 2015, in practice.

The Committee notes with regret the absence of information in the Government’s report. The Committee notes from the document on the National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana 2017–21 that the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service conducts investigations of cases of trafficking of persons and seeks to prosecute offenders. Moreover, the Anti-Human Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Ghana Immigration Service investigates and arrests human trafficking and smuggling offenders while also building the capacities of immigration officials to detect such cases. However, according to this document, Ghana continues to be a source, transit and destination country for trafficking of persons, while trafficking of girls and boys for labour and sexual exploitation are more prevalent within the country than transnational trafficking. The document further indicates that children are subjected to being trafficked into street hawking, begging, portering, artisanal gold mining, quarrying, herding and agriculture. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, in practice, thorough investigations and robust prosecutions are carried out for persons who engage in the trafficking of children, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed. In this regard, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and the Anti-Human Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons Unit for the offence of trafficking in persons under 18 years of age, in accordance with the provisions of the Human Trafficking Act.

Clause (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances. The Committee previously noted that section 101A of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), as amended by the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act of 2012 establishes penalties for the sexual exploitation of persons defined as the use of a person for sexual activity that causes or is likely to cause serious physical and emotional injury or in prostitution or pornography. The Committee observed that this provision only applies to children under 16 years of age. It therefore requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that its legislation is amended in order to protect all persons under the age of 18 years from the production of pornography and pornographic performances.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not provided any information in this respect. The Committee therefore once again recalls that, in accordance with Article 3(b) of the Convention, the use, procuring or offering of children for the production of pornography and for pornographic performance is one of the worst forms of child labour and that under the terms of Article 2, the term “child” shall apply to all persons under the age of 18. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to bring its legislation into conformity with Article 3(b) of the Convention in order to ensure that all children under the age of 18 years are protected from the offences related to the use, procuring or offering of children for the production of pornography and for pornographic performances. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the application of section 101A of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 in practice, including the number of infringements reported, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied in this regard.

Clause (d) and Article 7(2)(a) and (b). Hazardous work in cocoa farming, and preventing children from being engaged in and removing them from such hazardous work. In its previous comments, the Committee noted with concern the significant number of children below 18 years of age engaged in hazardous conditions of work in the agricultural sector, with an estimated 10 per cent of them working in cocoa-specific hazardous activities. It urged the Government to take the necessary measures to eliminate hazardous child labour in the cocoa industry.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board and in collaboration with other social partners such as the International Cocoa Initiatives, WINROCK, and the World Cocoa Foundation have carried out a number of activities aimed at preventing child labour in the cocoa sector. These measures include: sensitization of staff and farmers in the cocoa growing communities; withdrawal and rehabilitation of children found in hazardous child labour conditions; and the provision of education and health facilities to such children. The Committee also notes from the ILO publication Good Practices and Lessons Learned in Cocoa Communities in Ghana of the ILO–IPEC Cocoa Communities Project (CCP), 2015, that the project, which was implemented in 40 communities in seven districts of Ghana, focused mainly on social mobilization and community action planning, promotion of quality education, sustainable livelihoods for households, and child labour monitoring. It notes from a report by Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) entitled Child Labour and the Youth Decent Work Deficit in Ghana, 2016, that under the CCP project, over 5,400 children in or at risk of child labour were provided with educational or vocational services and more than 2,200 households were reached with livelihood services. The Committee, however, notes from a UCW report of 2017, entitled Not Just Cocoa: Child Labour in the Agricultural Sector in Ghana that the incidence of children’s employment in cocoa appears to have risen faster than their employment elsewhere. Almost 9 per cent of all children (about 464,000 children) in the principal cocoa growing regions are involved in child labour in cocoa, of whom 84 per cent (294,000 children) are exposed to hazardous work, resulting in injuries, including serious ones. The majority of these children are working as unpaid family workers. The Committee must express its deep concern at the high number of children engaged in hazardous types of work in cocoa farming. The Committee accordingly urges the Government to intensify its efforts to prevent children under 18 years of age from being engaged in hazardous types of work in this sector. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard as well as the measures taken to ensure that child victims of hazardous types of work are removed from such work and rehabilitated, particularly by ensuring their access to free basic education and vocational training.

Article 4(1) and (3). Determination and revision of the list of hazardous types of work. The Committee previously noted the Government’s indication that it envisaged to review and update as necessary section 91 of the Children’s Act, including the list of the types of hazardous work so as to be in compliance with the Convention. It noted that the National Steering Committee of the Child Labour Unit (CLU) had validated a list of hazardous types of work under the Hazardous Child Labour Activity Framework, entitled the Ghana Hazardous Child Labour List (GHAHCL), which had not yet been adopted as law.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the process for comprehensive review on hazardous activities has begun and that measures are being taken to adopt and incorporate the GHAHCL into the Children’s Act. Noting that the Government has been referring to the revision of the list of hazardous types of work since 2008, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures, without delay, to ensure the finalization and adoption of the GHAHCL and its incorporation into the Children’s Act. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard and to provide a copy, once it has been adopted.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour and providing the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. 1. Trafficking in the fishing industry and domestic service. The Committee previously noted the information from a study carried out by ILO–IPEC that children are engaged in hazardous fishing activities and are confronted with poor working conditions. Among the children engaged in fishing activities, 11 per cent were aged 5–9 years and 20 per cent were aged 10–14 years. Furthermore, 47 per cent of children engaged in fishing in Lake Volta were victims of trafficking, 3 per cent were involved in bondage, 45 per cent were engaged in forced labour and 3 per cent were engaged in sexual slavery. Expressing its deep concern at the prevalence of children who have been trafficked or sold into fishing activities, or are otherwise engaged in hazardous fishing activities in the Lake Volta region, the Committee urged the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the removal of children from this worst form of child labour and to provide them with appropriate support services for their rehabilitation and social integration.

The Committee notes with deep regret the absence of information in the Government’s report on this point. The Committee notes from the International Organization for Migration–Ghana 2018 Review that the shelter dedicated to child victims of trafficking has been renovated and opened. About 40 children who were recently removed from trafficking situations were housed in this shelter. These children were provided assistance including psychosocial counselling, family tracing and nutritional feeding. The Committee, however, notes from the document concerning the National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana 2017–21 that boys and girls are trafficked into forced labour in fishing and the domestic service, in addition to sex trafficking which is most prevalent in the Volta region and in the oil-producing western region. This document also indicates that across the 20 communities in the Volta and central regions, 35.2 per cent of households consisted of children who had been subjected to trafficking and exploitation primarily in the fishing industry and domestic servitude. The Committee deplores the significant number of children along the Volta and central regions of Ghana, who are subjected to trafficking, mainly for exploitation in the fishing industry and domestic servitude. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures, including through the NPA for the Elimination of Human Trafficking, to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking and to remove child victims from the worst forms of child labour and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and the results achieved in terms of the number of child victims of trafficking who have been removed and rehabilitated. Please provide data disaggregated by gender and age.

2. Trokosi system. The Committee previously noted that, despite the Government’s efforts to withdraw children from trokosi (a ritual in which teenage girls are pledged to a period of service at a local shrine to atone for another family member’s sins), the situation remained prevalent in the country. It also noted that the United Nations Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations of 9 August 2016 (CCPR/C/GHA/CO/1, paragraph 17) expressed concern about the persistence of certain harmful practices, including the trokosi system, notwithstanding their prohibition by law. The Committee strongly urged the Government to take immediate and effective measures to prevent the engagement of children into trokosi ritual servitude and to put an end to this traditional practice as a matter of urgency.

The Committee notes with deep regret the absence of any information in the Government’s report on its programmatic measures to prevent and remove children from the trokosi system. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to protect children from the practice of trokosi system as well as to withdraw child victims of such practices and to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration. It once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of children under 18 years of age who are affected by the trokosi system in the country, and on how many have been removed from this system and rehabilitated.

In light of the situation described above, the Committee must express its deep concern at the repeated failure from the Government to provide information on the action taken to address, as a matter of urgency, the situation of victims of worst forms of child labour, including children trafficked for exploitation in the fishing industry and domestic servitude, engaged in hazardous works in the cocoa farming or exploited in harmful practices such as the Trokosi system. The Committee deplores the lack of progress to remove children from these worst forms of child labour, protect them and ensure their rehabilitation.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 109th Session and to reply in full to the present comments in 2021.]