According to the report , since the teenagers could afford flashy marriages and naming ceremonies, church leaders in mineral commu­nities allow and officiate weddings of persons under the age of 18 and naming ceremonies of children of underage parents.

The report further stated that, such social events make illegal mining activities attractive to the teens and the children in the min­ing communities and it had led to a social competition among them.

The research, which was con­ducted within a four-month period between October 2022 and January this year, had respondents mainly from Atiwa East District in the Eastern Region as well as inputs from other stakeholders in mining communities across the country.

Discussing the report during the validation of Child Labour Eradication Framework for the Small-Scale mining sector in Accra yesterday, Dr Rita Owusu-Amank­wah, consultant for the research, said, currently, it was estimated that about 5,677 children engaged in mining activities.

“Findings show that illegal small-scale mining activities are done by people of all age groups; adults, youth, and children even though it is dominated by males, especially the youth.

Both migrants and indigenous people are engaged in the mining activities. Only few females (rela­tively to their male counterparts) are engaged in mining

because of the belief that menstruation is a bad omen to find gold,” she added.

Children in mining, she ex­plained, were mainly engaged in illegal activities because the law does not permit mining companies to employ children.

Dr Owusu-Amankwah said the situation exposes the children to the hazardous nature of the work of mining, its impact on their health and education, and post a negative image of Ghana’s gold on the international gold market.

She noted that, although several laws and policy measures have been put in place with the aim of realising constitutional and moral obligations for the protection of children from abuse and exploita­tion, the practice still persists in mining communities.

She referred to the implemen­tation of the National Plan of Action (NPA) 1 and 2, Strategy on Anti Child labour and Trafficking in Fisheries, and Caring Gold Min­ing Project for the Mining Sector as some of the interventions which was helping to address the menace.

The Framework, being devel­oped, she said, was aimed at imple­menting holistic, well-integrated, consistent, multi stakeholder and high-yielding interventions that would lead to the reduction of child labour by 50 per cent in the mining sector by 2027.

Dr Owusu-Amankwah noted that, the framework would focus on promoting community-driven efforts to implement interventions that would improve the wellbeing of children and develop systems for identifying and analysing cases of child labour and forced labour for effective remediation and fol­low-up actions.

She said it would further strengthen the capabilities of both institutions and actors at all levels to implement interventions to address child labour in an efficient manner and increase accessibility of poor families to the current social programmes and productive inclusion initiatives that provide sustainable livelihood possibilities.

Fafanyo Kukubor Amegavi, Gender and International Affairs Officer, Minerals Commission, said the Commission was aware of ille­gal practices including child labour in the small scale mining sector adding that it was working with all stakeholders to address it.

She said the Framework would help in streamlining all activities aimed at curtailing child labour and all other illegal practices

Rosemary Addico, Programmes Manager, Solidaridad, said the framework was a needed step towards the eradication of child labour in the small scale mining sector.

She said the organisation was committed to working with all stakeholders to tackle the menace within the sector.