4.8 Human rights situation in corporate Ghana 4.8.1 Child labour The country ratified the ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment. Though the laws of the country sets the minimum employment age at 15 years, or 13 years for light work, children under these age groups continue to be employed especially in the informal sector. Inspectors of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare (MESW) are unable to effectively monitor and enforce child labour violations. The Government of Ghana under the National Programme for the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC) is dealing with the problem of child labour in the cocoa industry. The National Plan of Action for the NPECLC was launched. 4.8.2 Safety standards at the workplace The Factories Department of the MESW are mandated to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) regulations. There were some reported cases of industrial accidents during the year. The Mining Industry Ghana’s mining industry performed well in 2011. According to statistics from the Gold Fields Mineral Survey (GFMS) the country remained the second gold producer after South Africa on the continent. The industry continued to make a favourable impact on the economy of Ghana in 2011: • • • The industry remains the leading attractor of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Total investment inflow into the mining sub-sector in 2011 was USD780 million, cumulatively the investment inflow into the sub-sector from 2000 – 2011 amounted to a little over USD6.2 billion. The industry grew by 14.3% in 2011 as compared to 8.3% in 2010 It remained the Number One Tax Payer and highest contributor to the Ghana Revenues Authority (GRA). It contributed about GHC1 billion to GRA representing 27.61% of total GRA collections in 2011. It also paid GHC645 Sixth Annual APRM Progress Report: January – December 2011 79