Ghana urged to criminalize child pornography

A law lecturer has called for a comprehensive legislation, criminalizing and punishing child pornography and other emerging forms of child sex abuse.

Professor Robin Walker Sterling of the faculty of law, University of Ghana, Legon, said people out there using the internet to groom and lure children into prostitution and other-related sexual practices, should not have their way.

She complained about the lack of a distinct legal provision, penalizing the possession, production and distribution or sale of child pornographic materials.

This, she said, gave cause for serious concern, considering how vulnerable children were to emerging trends of sexual abuse.

Prof Sterling was contributing to discussions at the Ashanti Regional consultative meeting held in Kumasi with stakeholders on the review of the Children’s Act and Juvenile Justice Act.

On hand to participate, were representatives from the judicial service, security agencies – military, police, immigration and prisons, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) civil society and NGOs.

It was organized by the Department of Children of the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry with support from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The goal was to help address gaps in the laws passed to give protection to children and ensure their wellbeing.

Prof Sterling said with the growing use of the internet to perpetrate crimes, it was important to provide children with security tit bits to protect them from abuse.

She said, as space was given to children to grow, they should be guided to make the right choices to become responsible and useful to the society.

Source: GNA