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24 children rescued from child labour in Volta region

This was undertaken by a child rights Non-Governmental Organisation, Challenging Heights, in collaboration with the Police.

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A child rights Non-Governmental Organisation, Challenging Heights, has collaborated with Police in the Volta region to rescue 24 children from child labour on the Lake Volta.

This brings the total number of children rescued by the organization since January, 2015 to 40.

Advocacy Manager of the NGO, David Kofi Awusi said the children rescued were denied access to education but rather being forced to work.

“All these children aged 6 to 16 years old are supposed to be in school but that was not the case. Instead they were forced to do menial jobs; spending an average of 17 hours a day working under hazardous conditions on the Volta Lake,” he said.

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He added “It is the right of every child of school going age in Ghana to have access to quality and affordable education but in Ghana children are still being trafficked. The good news is that as a country we have long known exactly what to do in order to eliminate it, with clear activities captured in the 2011-2015 National Plan of Action (NPA) towards the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) but with the NPA due to expire in less than two months, about 75% of what was planned has not been achieved.”

The NGO has therefore appealed to government through the various Ministries, Agencies and Department to immediately inform Ghanaians of the achievements made so far in the National Plan of Action towards the Elimination of Worst forms of Child Labour as the December, 2015 deadline draws near.

The Manager of the NGO, David Kofi Awusi further told Accra-based Joy Fm that his outfit is considering providing education for the children in order to reintegrate them into society.

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