Tamale, May 25, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Otoo, Country Programme Co-ordinator for the International Labour Organisation and the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC), has called on people in leadership positions to join in the fight to end all forms of child exploitation, including trafficking.
Mr Otoo said children were still working under hazardous conditions, such as in small-scale mining (Galamsey), stone quarrying, sand winning, sexual exploitation, farming and fishing in many places in Ghana and that it would take the personal commitment of leaders to reverse the situation.
He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at the end of a three-day tour of the Northern region during which he assessed the level of child labour and exploitation in the communities with the view to exploring collaborative efforts to eliminate them. The Co-ordinator visited communities in Tolon/Kumbungu and the Savelugu/Nanton districts where the ILO/IPEC sponsored some 650 deprived girls to complete their education and 50 school dropouts, to acquire vocational skills.
He said the ILO/IPEC would provide technical guidance and support towards the successful and meaningful observance of a "World day against child labour" scheduled for June 12, this year throughout the country as a means of eliminating child labour.