World Vision asks Ghana government to review Children’s Act
World Vision Ghana (WVG) has called on the government to review the Children’s Act (Act 1998) to ensure that it reflects family-focused and consensus based approaches to decision making bearing in mind the best interest of the child.
The international non-governmental organization (WVG) argued that “the criminal code of Ghana justifies the use of reasonable force for correction of children” which was a setback to interventions being implemented by the government to safeguard the interest of children.
This was contained in a statement delivered by Mr James Asedem, Operations Base Team Leader in-charge of Savelugu Operations of WVG, to mark this year’s African Union Day of the African Child (AUDAC) in Tamale on Friday.
The AUDAC is celebrated on June 16, every year by the African Union in line with resolution CM/Res.1290 (XL) to commemorate the 1976 massacre of SOWETO children, who merely took to the streets to demand their right to racism-free education in the then apartheid South Africa.
This year’s commemoration, organized by Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), WVG, Actionaid, Right to Play and Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), was on the theme: “ Eliminating Harmful Social and Cultural Practices Affecting Children: Our Collective Responsibility.”
The statement called on government to institute special procedural protections for child victims and witnesses at all stages of the process to ensure the successful prosecution of people who committed crimes against them (children).
It said “Standards should be developed for all child protection services to ensure regulation, guidelines, protocols and procedures to guide social welfare officers, probation officers and child panels in executing their obligations and responsibilities under the children’s Act are operational.”
It also called on “government to either review downwards birth registration fees for children over 12 months old or consider providing the service free of charge to make it more accessible and affordable.”
WVG said this would ensure the identification of the age of the person during criminal investigations to enable security agencies to identify juvenile cases and treat them as such.
It said most girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy are not able to return to school and called on government to develop a policy that will make it mandatory for the return to school of girls who dropped out of school due to pregnancy.
It also called on the National and Regional House of Chiefs to take advantage of the powers vested in them to make declaration including community based regulations and rules to prohibit the practice of customs and traditions that hinder the enjoyment of children’s rights.
Mrs Gifty Akosua Baka, Country Director of CCFC said there still exist, harmful traditional practices, which prevented children from enjoying their rights and called for education for all children to stem the tide.
Mrs Baka also called on agencies such as Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service to intensify their efforts to prevent child abuses.
Source: GNA