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10 Facts about Child Labor in Lake Volta’s Fishing Industry:

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  • In Ghana, one in six children aged 6 to 14 are involved in child labor; 2.3 percent of them work in fishing.
  • NGOs estimate that 4,000 to 10,000 children are trafficked and enslaved on Lake Volta at any time.
  • Persistent poverty greatly contributes to the issue of child labor in the Lake Volta fishing industry. Many families in Ghana are unable to afford the fees for school uniforms and books, and in many communities learning a trade is considered a viable alternative to schooling.
  • Children as young as four years old are trafficked to work as bonded laborers in Ghana’s fishing industry.
  • Parents who give their children to traffickers often believe that, in exchange for the small sum of money they receive, the child will have the opportunity to learn a trade.
  • The tasks children are involved in include paddling boats, hauling nets, diving underwater to untangle nets, or working as domestic laborers in the homes of fishermen.
  • Children work long hours for no pay; do not attend school; and are often malnourished, sleep deprived, and treated abusively.
  • Drowning and contracting water-borne diseases, like bilharzia (schistosomiasis) and guinea worm (dracunculiasis), are some of the hazards of this form of child labor.
  • The work violates Ghana’s own laws regulating child labor and education. It also violates standards set by the International Labor Organization’s Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (C182) and Minimum Age Convention (C138), as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child—all which Ghana has ratified.
  • In 2010, the Government of Ghana adopted a National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Ghana.

 

Compiled July, 2013

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CHILD LABOR AND ENSLAVEMENT IN GHANA’S LAKE VOLTA FISHING INDUSTRY

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By Sharon L. Fawcett, CLC Intern

For a small sum of money, James Kofi Annan’s father handed him over to a child trafficker when he was just six years old. Born into a family in Ghana with 12 children, there was no money for school uniforms and books. So instead of gaining an academic education, James would learn the painful lessons of the enslaved, in Ghana’s fishing villages.

Sold by his trafficker to a Lake Volta fisherman, James worked 17 hours per day, enduring constant physical and emotional abuse. When displeased, his master often withheld food, beat him with a paddle, or threw him in the lake.

Lake Volta, one of the world’s largest man-made lakes, was created by the construction of Ghana’s Askombo dam in the 1960s. Although the lake provided a bountiful supply of fish for many years, fish stocks have been declining in recent years, making it more difficult for fishermen to earn a living. Children provide a cheap source of labor and their tiny fingers prove useful for picking the fish that are captured in the nets’ webbing, as the holes get increasingly smaller to catch smaller fish.

Poster, Fisher of Kids

 

The children trafficked to work in Ghana’s fishing industry as bonded laborers are as young as four years of age. Their tasks may include paddling boats, hauling nets, or performing domestic labor in the homes of fishermen. Like James Kofi Annan, these children work long hours for no pay; do not attend school; and are often malnourished, sleep deprived, and treated abusively. Nets often get snagged on submerged tree branches and children forced to dive underwater to free them risk water-borne diseases and drowning.

According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), 60 percent of the world’s 215 million child laborers work in the agricultural sector—comprising activities in agriculture, livestock-raising, forestry, and fishing. In Ghana, one in six children aged six to 14 are involved in child labor. Eighty-eight percent of them work on farms; another 2.3 percent in fishing.

Work that is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children is categorized as hazardous by the ILO. This is the kind of work Lake Volta’s child fishers are exposed to, among the “worst forms of child labor.”

Ghana has ratified several international conventions that establish standards to protect children from exploitative work, including the ILO’s Minimum Age Convention (C138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (C182). It also has national laws restricting child labor, but the laws are not vigorously enforced. The minimum age for work in Ghana is 15 years; 18 years for hazardous work. However, the practice of children working is commonly accepted in Ghanaian society.

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CLC Statement on “Malala Day,” July 12, 2013

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WASHINGTON—The 30 members of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) applaud the courage and commitment of education activist Malala Yousafzai who spoke to hundreds of young people gathered from over 80 nations for a Youth Session at the United Nations today. Malala, who just turned 16, was tragically shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan last fall because she dared to attend school and argued for the right of other Pakistani girls to do the same.

“We are all inspired by Malala’s amazing courage,” said Sally Greenberg, the co-chair of the CLC and the executive director of the National Consumers League. “Our coalition knows all too well that when children are not allowed to attend school, they often end up in work that is dangerous or damaging to their future development. Around the world, an estimated 61 million children are denied access to an education. At considerable risk, Malala is speaking out on behalf of those children.”

“Malala is a powerful reminder that education is not only the right of every child, but the greatest hope we have for a more just, prosperous, and peaceful world,” said Dr. Lorretta Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and a co-chair of the CLC. “We join her in calling for increasing educational opportunities for all children and encourage everyone to join the 4 million people who have signed a worldwide petition in support of universal access to education.”

Despite the catastrophic injuries suffered when she was attacked, Malala’s voice rang loud and clear at the UN and her message was firm: all children deserve an education. “Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons,” Malala said. “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution.”

“[The Taliban] thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed. Out of the silence came thousands of voices,” Malala added. “Nothing has changed in my life except this: weakness, fear, and hopelessness died, strength, fervor, and courage was born.”

Malala stated that the Taliban are “blasting schools every day” because “they are afraid of change, afraid of the equality that we will bring into our society.” She urged her audience to “wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism.”

During the speech, Malala made a specific connection to child labor: “In India, innocent and poor children are victims of child labor. Many schools have been destroyed in Nigeria. People in Afghanistan have been affected by the hurdles of extremism for decades. Young girls have to do domestic child labor and are forced to get married at an early age.”

The CLC welcomes this courageous young voice in the struggle against poverty, child labor, and barriers to education.

Malala’s speech may be viewed by clicking here.

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The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act) would help protect child farmworkers

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Child farmworker Greccia Balli. Photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch.

Grecia Balli began working in farm fields when she was 10 years old. At age 14, she decided to drop out of school because her life as a migrant farmworker caused her to switch schools frequently, making it difficult for her to keep up academically. By age 17 she no longer dreamed of becoming a police officer, which had been her goal. Her life revolved around farm work.

Grecia is one of an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 children who work in U.S. agriculture. Interviewed for “Fingers to the Bone,” a film by U. Roberto Romano and Human Rights Watch, Grecia said she felt as though she had no choices as a farmworker. “You don’t feel the same as other kids.”

Child farmworkers aren’t treated the same as other children, either, under current U.S. labor laws. Seventy-five years after its passage, the antiquated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 continues to regulate child labor, but fails to provide children performing agricultural work with protections equal to those afforded other children. The FLSA restricts children younger than 16 years from working for more than three hours on a school day, but a loophole for the agricultural sector means children as young as 12 can legally work unlimited hours on farms before or after school, and children of any age can work on small farms, with their parents’ permission. Children 14 and older can work on any farm, without parental consent. Child agricultural workers are also permitted to perform hazardous work at age 16, while hazardous work is strictly reserved for adults in all other sectors.

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries and the most dangerous for children, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics. “Children working for wages on farms are exposed to many hazards—farm machinery, heat stroke, and pesticides among them—and they perform back-breaking labor that no child should have to experience,” says Child Labor Coalition (CLC) Co-Chair Sally Greenberg, the executive director of the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy organization that has worked to eliminate abusive child labor since its founding in 1899. “Child farmworkers deserve the same protections that all other American kids enjoy.”

As Grecia’s story illustrates, schooling is also negatively impacted when children labor in agriculture. Many of them leave school before the term ends and return after it has begun. This can lead to academic difficulties. American Federation of Teachers Secretary-Treasurer and CLC Co-Chair Lorretta Johnson notes, “Fifty percent of children who regularly work on farms will not graduate from high school.” Child farmworkers have four times the national rate of school drop-out.

For more than a decade, the CLC has endeavored to address the issue of child agricultural labor and is working to help pass the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), HR 2234, federal legislation re-introduced on June 12, 2013, by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) to amend the FLSA.

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What are the Most Common Child Labor Products Found Around the World?

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CLICK on title, and then click on chart to make larger.

Please note that some countries with relatively large numbers of goods on this list may not have the most serious problems of child labor.  Often, these are countries that have more openly acknowledged the problems, have better research, and have allowed information on these issues to be disseminated.

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Which Countries Produce the Most Products Made from Child Labor?

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Please note that some countries with relatively large numbers of goods on the List may not have the most serious problems of child labor.  Often, these are countries that have more openly acknowledged the problems, have better research, and have allowed information on these issues to be disseminated.

CLICK title to view and then click chart to make larger.