Child trafficking is affecting national development - CJ

The Chief Justice (C.J), Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, has noted that child labour and child trafficking negatively affects human capital development and the over all national development agenda.She said when children did not go to school they were denied knowledge and skills needed for national development. Mrs. Wood made the observation in a speech read on her behalf at a-day's seminar for 42 Superior Court Judges on the worst forms of child labour and child trafficking, in Accra on Saturday. The event was organised by Future Resource Development, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in collaboration with the Judicial Service and funded by the International Cocoa Initiative, Geneva. Participants were taken through topics like, "Child Labour and Child Trafficking, Key Concepts on Worst Forms of Child Labour", "Child Trafficking Syndicate and their Activities" and "Impact of child labour".Mrs. Wood said child labour retarded national development, hence the need to classify the perpetrators as traitors and saboteurs who should be made to face the law. She said: "Those who recruit children for labour exploitation and deny them education and personal development are actually sabotaging national development efforts for their personal gain and judges must apply the law and sanction them." Mr. Wood called for the harnessing of the potentials of children towards national development. The Executive Director of the NGO, Mrs Sylvia Hinson-Ekong urged government to enact comprehensive laws to protect children from all forms of abuse.Mr. Peter McAllister, Executive Director of the Geneva Initiative noted that the judiciary has a unique role in the prosecution of perpetrators of human trafficking to deter others. Justice J. B. Akamba, who chaired the programme, urged judges to discharge their duties without fear or favour to eliminate child labour and child trafficking.
Source:GNA