Public urged to report suspected parents of child trafficking
Mr. Coleman Darko, National Coordinator of the Nationwide Sensitization Walk against Child Trafficking, has urged the public to monitor and report to law enforcement agencies, activities of parents who indulges in any form of child trafficking.
He was addressing stakeholders’ forum at Nkoranza at the weekend when the National Peace Walker Mr. Isaac Annan and his partner Mr. Thomas Quaicoe, arrived in the area as part of their campaign against child trafficking.
The programme has been endorsed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr. Darko said, and expressed concern about how some irresponsible parents engaged their children in “slavery” due to poverty and cautioned that the practice was against the child’s rights and freedom which should be discouraged.
He disclosed that Act 560 of Ghana’s Constitution enjoined all to protect the lives of children and that it was unlawful for them to create conditions that could have adverse effect on their lifestyles.
Mr. Darko said by the Act the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies had been advised to organise child protection committees in the communities to check against inhuman activities that infringed on the rights and freedom of children.
He emphasized that every child had the right to education and that the law could deal with parents, who denied their children formal education with the excuse that they were poor.
The Peace Walker appealed to women, who adopted children from other parents to handle and treat such children as their biological children without discriminating against them.
Mr. Darko expressed regret about how some women harassed, maltreated and exposed adopted children to various forms of hardships just because they were not part of their families and cautioned such women to desist from the ungodly practice.
He commended the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Fire Service, Information Services Department and the Department of Social Welfare for offering the necessary support and encouragement towards the activities of the National Peace Walkers.
Mr. Darko expressed gratitude to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies for providing the necessary logistics in support of the national campaign against child trafficking.
The nationwide sensitizations walk campaign against child abuse, started from Bibiani in the Western Region then to Central, Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions. It will head towards the Northern parts of the country as well, Mr. Darko said.
At the forum, a parent from Brahoho in Nkoranza South District, Mr. Robert Kofi Appiah, called on government to implement the laws against child neglect by parents.
It was unfortunate that because there were no actions taken against irresponsible parents, a number of innocent children had taken to the streets and engaged in all sorts of social vices, he added.
Source: GNA