Protect and support children in cocoa growing areas – Bright Appiah

The Executive Director of the Child Right International, Mr Bright Appiah said it was imperative that children in cocoa growing areas are given the needed protection and support to enable them realize their God-given potentials.

He was happy that children in these cocoa growing communities were becoming more and more in love with education unlike in the past when issue of child labour in cocoa growing areas was a national challenge.

Mr Appiah was speaking at the 2018 child initiative forum sponsored by Child Rights International and Mondelez international under the theme: “Protecting Children in Cocoa Growing Communities, Essential Foundation for Sustainable Cocoa”.

The programme is organised annually to equip and empower children to partake in things of national interest with special focus on Cocoa and sustainability.

 The Executive Director said as much as the country sought to sustain cocoa production, it was equally important that children in those communities were protected through adequate facilities to help them actively involved in things of national interest.

He stated that children have the right to national policies, health and education, adding, “national policies should in essence be skewed to favour children and to have their rights protected…like the double track system, children should be fully engaged on the subject for them to express their opinions”.

Ms Gifty Twum Boafo, Deputy Minister of Gender and Social Protection said the role of government in ensuring the full implementation of child protection was key in the implementation of government policies.

She said child protection was the protection of the child from all sorts of social vices when the child is in conflict or contact with the law.

The Deputy Minister in this regard said it was necessary to involve institutions at all levels of the government to ensure that the child was fully protected.

Ms Boafo advised the children to use their assembly members and opinion leaders in the event of any issue on the abuse of their rights.

She advised children to read wide especially on issues that involved children and study every available document.

Source: GNA