Ghana may lose American aid if it fails to curb child labour

pulse-ghana admin

July 6, 2017 6:26 PM

It is estimated that there are almost three million children involved in some of Ghana’s largest sectors economic sectors. These include the cocoa, fishing and mining industries.

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Ghana risks losing millions of dollars in funding from the United States of America because of the failure to curb the child labour.

This was announced by Maurice Knight, the Chief of Party (CoP) of the United States Agency International Development (USAID) – Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP).

It is estimated that there are almost three million children working in some of Ghana’s largest sectors economic sectors. These include the cocoa, fishing and mining industries.

According to the International Labour Organisation, there are about 49,000 children working on the Volta Lake. Out of this number, 21,000 of them are engaged in what the international agency describes as ‘hazardous’.

Although the Human Trafficking Act was passed in 2005, reports about children being trafficked are very common in the news.

Over the last two years, Ghana has been stuck consistently on Tier Two of America’s State Department Trafficking In Person watch list.

Mr Knight even warned that Ghana could be downgraded to an unenviable position to Tier Three of the watch list. If downgraded, it would mean significant repercussions on US aid assistance to Ghana.

pulse-ghana admin