International child abuse month 2013 launched
The Korle-Bu Child Abuse Unit and its stakeholders on Thursday launched the International Child Abuse Month (ICAM ) in Accra to create awareness on child abuse.
The launch of ICAM was to reinforce the importance of the internationally recognised month in Ghana and also create a time frame for a yearly projection to champion the course and intensify child abuse prevention in Ghana.
Dr Ebenezer Badoe, Head of the Korle-Bu Child Abuse Unit, indicated that child abuse was a problem blighting the lives of children worldwide.
“In Ghana, it’s defined as the maltreatment of the child which violates his or her human rights. It can take the form of physical, neglect, emotional and sexual abusem,” he said.
Dr Badoe said recognising the increasing numbers of children who were being reported as abused or neglected worldwide in the 1970s, the United States of America sought to find ways of reducing the numbers through research, public engagements and education on issues of child abuse.
According to him, in 1983, the United States of America designated the month of April as the national child abuse prevention month as one of the measures toward curbing the menace and since then the month had been commemorated annually with awareness raising and positive efforts internationally to prevent child abuse because of its effects on victims.
Dr Nellie Adjaye, Specialist in child abuse protection, said the recognition of ICAM in Ghana would create a cohesive coordination of what to do when a child was being abused and also bring other interested stakeholders on board towards the diagnosis, management and prevention of child abuse.
DSP Elvis Sadongo, Police Liaison Officer on Child Abuse, said Ghana had laws protecting children wrapped in the children’s right ACT 560 but questioned how far the law was being used to protect children from abuse.
He said there were laws mandating everybody to be child keeper and report all child abuse cases to the right institutions like the DOVVSU of the Ghana Police Service and the Social Welfare Department.
He said: “Failure to comply by this mandate when necessary means disappointing innocent children and wrecking their future because of the numerous effects child abuse has on its victims through out the rest of their lives.”
Mr Kabral Blay-Aminhere, Chairman of the National Media Commission, urged the media not to make the issue of child abuse prevention a day’s reportage but must keep highlighting it daily due to its repercussions on the country.
CAPM is supported by the Pediatric Association of Ghana, UNICEF, DOVVSU, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, British Council, Ministry Of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Department of Social welfare.
Source: GNA