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OPA News Release: [12/20/2003]
Contact Name: Mike
Biddle or Lisa Gates
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Visits with Victims
of Child Trafficking and Tours Kokrobite Primary School in Ghana
ACCRA, GHANA—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today
met with children who have been the victims of child trafficking at the
Kokrobite primary school outside of Accra, Ghana. The Secretary heard
first-hand the stories of abuse and suffering that students at the school
endured. The visit and tour were part of Secretary Chao’s four-day visit
to Africa to highlight continuing efforts to end the worst forms of child
labor—including using children as soldiers and trafficking in
children—and to promote programs in the workplace to stop the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
“President George W. Bush has called child trafficking ‘a
special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable.
The victims of sex trade see little of life before they see the very worst of
life—an underground of brutality and lonely fear,’ and he has urged
all governments to end this evil,” said Secretary Chao. “The world
community must come together to stop the tragedy of child trafficking. Children
are the future of any country and they must be nurtured and
protected.”
During Secretary Chao’s visit, she met with nearly 50 children who
have been victims of trafficking. In addition to children from Kokrobite,
Secretary Chao also visited with students from five schools in nearby villages.
The children were trafficked hours away from their home to the Volta Lake
region to work in the fishing industry, as divers, net casters and assistants
to local fishermen. They were recently returned home, many through a Ministry
of Women and Children campaign known as “Bring your Child Back
Home.”
The Department of Labor (DOL) through the International Labor
Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor
(ILO-IPEC) supports the Kokrobite primary school, located in the Kokrobite
Village just outside of Accra. The Parent and Child Foundation, a local
non-governmental organization, runs the school. The foundation pays for
students school fees, provides schools books, supplies and uniforms. Students
receive primary education in a number of subjects including English, Math,
Science, Environmental Studies, World Religions and Vocational Skills.
Currently, there are approximately 300 students in grades 1-6 enrolled in the
school. Children attend classes six hours a day Monday through Friday. The
school has an active Parent Teacher Association.
In addition to Kokrobite, the DOL/ILO-IPEC trafficking project provides
education to trafficked children in a number of other villages in Ghana. In
total, the project aims to assist hundreds of children who have been trafficked
or are at risk of being trafficked for exploitative labor. The project in Ghana
is part of a larger DOL-funded nine country ILO-IPEC program in Africa against
child trafficking for exploitative employment.
Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor has received $313 million to
fund international projects aimed at preventing and eliminating the worst forms
of child labor. The department has already obligated $275 million of the money
received for child labor projects in more than 60 countries. These projects are
designed to remove children from hazardous work environments and exploitive
conditions, to provide educational opportunities for child laborers and to
conduct research and raise awareness about the child labor issue.
The United States is a signatory to ILO Convention No. 182, which
condemns the trafficking of children as one of the worst forms of child labor
and calls upon countries to assist one another in eliminating all adverse forms
of child labor as a matter of urgency.
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