Community-Based Child Labor Trafficking Prevention in Ghana: A Rights-Based Approach

Author: Agyemang, Eric; Haggerty, Kevin; Guttmannova, Katrina; Spencer, Michael & Spearmon, Margaret

Abstract: There are 152 million children in the world who are victims of child laborers are found in Africa; 73 million are involved in hazardous labor. Almost half of child labor (72.1 million) is found in Africa. One in five children in Africa (19.6%) is a child laborer, whilst prevalence in other regions such as Arab States, Asia, and Europe is between three percent and seven percent (International Labor Organization). This study evaluates a community-based child rights education intervention implemented in Ghana, West Africa, to address the problem. The project contributed to an eight percent increase in school enrollment (which has been associated with a decrease in child labor trafficking in other studies), an equivalence of 706 students in one and half years after implementation. The study contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals five and 16 (promoting gender equality, facilitating human rights advancement and strengthening accountable institutions). It also provides project implementation strategies to support the efforts of anti-trafficking institutions. In addition, it fosters awareness on the traumatic impact of child labor trafficking and a call to action for social workers to develop clinical interventions to support victims. It also discusses various limitations, implications, and future directions for the study.

Keywords: child trafficking prevention, community-based trafficking prevention, trafficking prevention Ghana, labor trafficking prevention Africa, child rights research