The incidence of global child labour has reduced by 11 per cent, from 246 million in 2000 to 218 million in 2004, Mrs Agnes Gorman, Ashanti Regional Labour Officer has said.
Mrs Gorman, who was speaking at a three-day sensitisation workshop on child labour in Kumasi on Wednesday, said the number of children in hazardous work worldwide had also decreased from 171 million to 126 million, representing 26 percent reduction within the same period.
The workshop participants were representatives of the Labour Commission, Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
Mrs Gorman cited the establishment of decentralised institutions such as courts, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and vocational and skill training centres, as measures that had contributed to the achievements.
In a brief presentation on child labour, Mr Nelson Asare, Programme Officer of ILO in Ghana, defined child labour as the engagement of a person below 18 years in any type of work, which deprives the person of basic human rights, especially when the work is hazardous, exploitative and harmful to the health, safety and development of the person.