Kumasi, June 20, GNA - Failure of some fathers to care for their children has contributed to the rising spate of child labour in the country. Misplaced priorities and poverty on the part of mothers also is another factor which forces children to fend for themselves rather than depending on their parents for survival. These came out at a forum in Kumasi on Friday which was organised by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and sponsored by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on child labour. It was attended by representatives from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Prisons Ministry and women church leaders. Participants also identified other causes of child labour as divorce, child neglect, peer pressure, laziness of some parents, rural-urban migration, lack of community responsibility and others.

Miss. Georgina Opoku Amankwah, a Kumasi-based lawyer and the Metro Director of NCCE, called on parents, especially mothers to keep their marriages for the sake of their children, since single parenting affected the children negatively. She urged parents to respect their children's views due to the fact that good relationships are built through dialogue thereby enabling their children to approach them easily than confiding in friends. Miss Amankwa said engaging children in household chores did not threaten their health and aere not forms of child labour but only to teach them to be responsible in future. She said mining, truck pushing, stone quarrying, among others are the worst forms of child labour.

Miss Amankwa appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians to help eliminate the menace by reporting such cases to the Domestic Violence and Victims' Support Unit (DVVSU), Commission on Human Rights Administrative Justice (CHRAG), Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) or NCCE, in conformity with the Children's Act 560, Human Trafficking Act and others. Reverend Ellis Owusu Ansah of the Light of God Ministries in Kumasi, appealed to religious leaders to educate their members on child labour. He appealed to the government to intensify its support by equipping parents with skills and loans to supplement their family budget.