The desire to have lavish marriage and child naming ceremonies have been identified as some of the drivers of illegal mining among minors in mining communities.
A research carried out by Solidaridad West Africa revealed that church leaders giving their blessings to such teen marriages had fuelled the practice.
“According to the respondents for this study, religious centres, especially churches, in the mining communities are promoting early marriage in the communities since the teengagers can afford flashy marriage and naming ceremonies of children of teenage parents,” the report, which was made public on February 21, 2023, revealed.
The consultant for the research, Dr Rita Owusu-Amankwaah, who presented the findings said, “these social events make illegal mining activities to be attractive to teens and children in mining communities, and it has led to a social competition among them”.
The research was carried out over the past three months, with respondents drawn from residents and stakeholders in mining communities across the country.
The study was sanctioned in collaboration with the Minerals Commission as part of a holistic programme to eradicate child labour in the small-scale mining sector.
As part of the comprehensive strategy to curb child labour, a framework, dubbed: “Child Labour Eradication Framework for the Small-scale Mining Sector”, is being developed, spelling out the role of all stakeholders and key deliverables to tackle the menace.
Throwing more light on the findings at a validation workshop for the framework, Dr Owusu-Amankwah said poverty, economic and financial matters, as well as socio-cultural issues, were the other key drivers of child labour in the mining sector.
She said although the physical effect of illegal mining was visible in the destruction of land and water resources, the situation was even dire in terms of the involvement of children in mining.
Dr Owusu-Amankwah said apart from the health hazards the child labourers were exposed to, there was also growing indiscipline among the children who engaged in illegal mining because of the early exposure to money.
Again, she said, the study found that teenage pregnancy was prevalent in mining communities.
Among other things, the research found looming consequences of illegal mining on food production in terms of availability due to the destruction of farmlands.
The Programmes Manager in charge of Gold at Solidaridad, Rosemary Addico, said the framework being developed was targeted at halving child labour in the mining sector by at least 50 per cent in the next five years.
She said the framework would help to strengthen interaction between the private sector, civil society organisations and state institutions to curb child labour.
Ms Addico observed that multi-stakeholder engagements were required to weed out child labour in the mining sector.
The Assistant Manager of Industrial Minerals Department of the Minerals Commission, Kayi Mawufemor, said the move to develop a framework that would facilitate the process of curbing child labour in the mining sector was a step in the right direction as it would support the commission to deliver on its mandate.
He said it was worrying that although the International Labour Organisation Convention 182 recognised mining that involved children as the worst form of child labour, the practice still existed.
“This framework that is being developed will be used as a strategy to eliminate child labour, so all stakeholders should support it,” he said.
SOURCE: Graphiconline
