International Labour Organization steps up efforts to eliminate child labour

The International Labour Organization is stepping up its global effort to eliminate child labour particularly in the supply chain of mining.

The UN agency is working to achieve that by substituting its Caring Gold Mining Project with a four-year Accelerated Action for the Elimination of Child Labour (ACCEL) project which is expected to run for four years.

The project which is funded by the Netherland government is targeted at significantly eliminating child labour in the mining supply chain on the African continent.

Key among the expectations are for the ACCEL Africa project to work closely with central and federal governments, communities and civil society organizations to develop and implement public policy and good governance, empowerment and representation as well as partnership and knowledge sharing among global supply chain actors working in Africa.

Artisanal and small scale mining, which regrettably has some children involved until 2017 was pervasive in Ghana, particularly in the mining regions of Ghana.

In 2017 government imposed an initial six months ban on all forms of small scale mining in a bid to protect what was left of rather destroyed forests and water sources.

There were also concerns that the small scale mining sector was sending the country into the abyss because of the haphazard manner in which it was being done.

Artisanal mining which started as a livelihood activity in Ghana has now taken the shape of a capital intensive venture which is regrettably usually done in an unsustainable manner.

Globally, it is estimated that some 4.5 million people are said to be engaged in Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining, with some 150 million people benefiting indirectly from the industry.

Sadly, however, there are human rights violations in the sector as a good number of minors are either forced into the enterprise or gleefully allowed by industry players to participate in what should be a reserve for adults.

A good number of the minors who engage in the Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining, end up abandoning school to prematurely start their adult lives.