The Senior Director for Global Programs at the Rainforest Alliance Dr. Kwame Osei has admonished stakeholders involved in the fight against Forced and Child labour in Cocoa and Gold mining communities in Ghana to continue to collaborate and align their efforts towards the total eradication of the menace by the year 2025.
Dr. Kwame Osei made the call in a speech delivered on his behalf at a day’s national dialogue on the possibility of ending Forced and Child labour by 2025. It was organized by the Rainforest Alliance Ghana, through its “Tackling Forced and Child Labour in Ghanaian Cocoa and Gold Mining Communities” project which is being implemented in collaboration with, Solidaridad West Africa and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
The dialogue meeting brought together over 130 Project stakeholders from various public and private sector organizations including the COCOBOD, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, representatives of cocoa and gold mining companies and associations, traditional rulers from Gold and cocoa producing areas as well as other interested parties.
“The production of many commonly traded goods—coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, palm oil, gold, and timber—often involves the use of labour with inherent human rights abuses. While progress has been made in recent years, some systemic problems such as child labour, forced labour, and gender inequality, just to mention a few, still exist in many supply chains,” Dr. Kwame Osei explained.
The Senior Project Manager for the Child Labour Project at the Rainforest Alliance, Joyce Poku-Marboah said that both producing countries (Ghana inclusive) and consuming countries (Europe inclusive) have raised concerns about the menace of Forced and Child labour and are working seriously towards preventing, identifying, and eradicating it in the cocoa and gold mining as well as other sectors. That is why over the last two years, the Rainforest Alliance in collaboration with its partners have been implementing this project together with cocoa companies, traders, cooperatives, farmer groups and gold associations to implement measures that will help to prevent, identify and address forced labour and child labour in their daily operations across the globe in cocoa and gold mining communities.
She explained further that even though most chocolate companies and governments have developed or strengthened their supply chain policies and management systems, and have joined initiatives that aim to address social issues, such as poverty and underdevelopment, which contribute to the perpetuation of child and forced labour in the cocoa supply chain, commitment to ensuring the successful implementation of such plans and initiatives remains a challenge. She therefore called on the government and cocoa/gold mining companies to endeavor to fulfil their commitments, towards achieving the objective of eliminating forced and child labour from the gold and cocoa sectors by 2025.
In a speech delivered on his behalf, the Director of Research at COCOBOD, Dr. Francis Baah the issue of Child/forced labour in cocoa production has remains a global concern which has brought about the formulation of legislations from consuming markets (US and Europe) to ensure that the cocoa supply chain is rid of such practice. This is why the National Plan of Action 1& 2 and the Ghana Accelerated Action Plan Against Child Labour (2023-2027) have been developed to provide a framework to accelerate actions to support national efforts aimed at annexing the canker.
Dr. Francis Baah further explained that as the regulator of the cocoa sector, COCOBOD has a vested interest in the possible impact of the commitments made by stakeholders including government, companies, and communities to end child/forced labour in the cocoa sector. COCOBOD will therefore provide stakeholders with the relevant information to guide the implementation of strategic objectives to address common challenges and enhance collective impact.
Other speakers at the event include Esther Ofori Agyemang, the Head of the Child Labour Unit at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations as well as Mr. Mawuli Avutor, the Deputy Director at the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Over the past two years, the Rainforest Alliance and partners (ICI and Solidaridad) have executed the NORAD-funded 'Tackling Child and Forced Labour Project' across 40 communities in Ghana. This project is working with cocoa companies, traders, cooperatives, farmer groups and gold associations to implement measures that will help to prevent, identify and address forced labour and child labour in their daily operations across the globe in cocoa and gold mining communities.
Community Based Organizations (CBOs) within this project have trained volunteers to engage with and document commitments and actions related to child and forced labour at the community level. Volunteers have been actively involved in awareness-raising, quarterly dialogues, and monitoring the fulfilment of commitments from government agencies and companies at the district level.
This workshop serves as a platform to showcase the achievements and challenges of this project, fostering collaboration among government, companies, and communities for effective action and commitment fulfilment. It further facilitates a collaborative space for reviewing approaches to combat forced and child labour, involving companies, government representatives, and community stakeholders.
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