Let’s protect the rights of children

Article :Salome Donkor
The United Nations declared 1979 as the International Year of the Child, which was referred to as the 1979 Declaration. The declaration called upon countries, local authorities, civil society organisations and parents to recognise and strive for the protection of the rights of children.
The declaration also influenced the passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in November 1989 and Ghana responded positively to the initiatives of the United Nations in being the first country to ratify the convention.
The adoption of the CRC provides a clear statement prohibiting all forms of violence against children, reaffirming previous human rights instruments. It further spells out measures that must be taken to ensure that crime prevention and criminal justice practices are themselves not contributing to the re-victimisation of children, whether the children are victims or perpetrators.
Apart from ratifying the CRC, Ghana has a lot to talk about in relation to the enactment of laws and the establishment of rules and procedures for enforcing rights of the child and parental obligations, care and protection of children, as well as the adjudication of judicial and quasi-judicial matters affecting children.
In 1998, Parliament passed the Children's Act (ACT 560) which provided a list of enforceable children's rights and obligations of parents towards their wards.
With the passage of the Children's Act, the Ghana National Commission on Children (now the Department of Children) and other public and private stakeholders have the legal backing to fight for the cause of children in Ghana.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty which has been ratified by nearly every country in the world, states that children deserve a better environment and the highest standard of living possible.
However, the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy asserts that millions of children throughout the world are victims of violence. They continue to be abused, exploited and trafficked under different categories of violence to children, from abuse in the family and in institutions, to organised sexual abuse, including child prostitution, sex tourism and child pornography.
Proper child care requires that children are taken care of by family members to enable them to benefit from the love and warmth of their families. This is particularly important because children are the first and the most vulnerable to fall prey to environmental hazards.
In the urban poor, children are most disadvantaged and in Ghana, it is a common scene to see children, as young as eight years or sometimes even younger, selling ‘pure water’, lime, plantain chips, pawpaw, and confectioneries at the various traffic intersections, while some of them also aid physically challenged persons to beg for alms.
The risk confronting children who have become street hawkers at the Kasoa, Ayi Mensah and Afienya tolls booth, as well as other traffic intersections in the city, surpasses understanding. It is pathetic to see a number of children running dangerously on the streets and engaging in hazardous work such as hawking and carrying loads to earn income to fend for themselves. Some parents also engage in child trafficking, despite legislation banning the practice while some cultural practices are inimical to the rights and protection of children.
Reports of child rights abuse in the media over the last few weeks serve as a test case in the enforcement of laws and regulations protecting children.
Apart from the alleged incident of child abuse that occurred at the Peace and Love Orphanage in Accra recently, sources from the Department of Social Welfare indicate that three other orphanages have been earmarked for closure in the first quarter of this year for operating below standard.
Another incident of child abuse at an orphanage has been uncovered at Apowa in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region, according to a report in the February 13, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic.
Social Welfare officials in the region allege that the Orphan Cray Home had become a centre from where the proprietor and her accomplices recruited children and gave them out as domestic servants and child labourers.
They said before they were given out, the inmates often went to school without food and were given 20Gp for feeding until they returned home late afternoon and sometimes were made to fast and pray for the whole day “to seek the face of God”.
This has warranted an investigation by the Western Regional Command of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) into the operations of the orphanage.
A report in the February 13, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic about the conviction of a 58-year-old farmer, who lured a nine-year-old girl to a nearby cocoa farm and defiled her is heart-breaking. No wonder the presiding judge, Mr Kofi Akrowiah of the Akim Swedru Circuit Court who sentenced the accused to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour, described the incident as a nasty and a cruel act perpetrated by a man.
It was reported that the convict, Job Arthur jokingly called the girl ‘my wife’ and occasionally gave her coins but succeeded in defiling her on two occasions.
Yet another incident of child abuse was carried in the Daily Graphic of February 7. The story said several children at Atimpoku in the Eastern Region are engaged in the risky business of ferrying tourists across the Volta River in canoes that are not equipped with any safety gadgets.
Most of them operate the canoe services on the Volta River on Saturdays, Sundays, and during holidays, when tourists turn up in high numbers. They charge GH¢2 per person, which is far cheaper than the GH¢30 charged by the cruise boats operated by some of the hotels in the area. Some of the children said they had been doing the business for between three and five years.
Reacting to the alleged incidence of child abuse in some orphanages in the country, the Executive Director of Challenging Heights a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Mr James Kofi Annan reportedly called for proper investigations into the incidence that took place at the Peace and Love Orphanage.
He said what took place at the Peace and Love orphanage should be an eye opener to the Department of Social Welfare and the government to take a second look at the operations of all other NGOs, particularly those who claim to be for the welfare of the child, and ensure that those whose operations do not conform to the appropriate standard are closed down.
He urged the government to prosecute parents who neglected their basic parental duties.He said because parents and governments had neglected the responsibility of providing for needy children in the country, individuals had formed various NGOs, some of which are operated to the disadvantage of these unfortunate children.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr Bright Appiah, has called for a thorough look into the operations of orphanages in the country.
He said information available to the organisation indicates that about 90 per cent of the orphanages in the country are operating far below standard. Also, only a few are registered with the Department of Social Welfare.
Mr Appiah said it was sad that most of the orphanages were sub-standard and that the focus should be on how to improve them.
That, he said, was to ensure that they met the increasing needs of the children sent to such facilities, adding that children in orphanages needed counsellors, among other support services, to be well-developed.
He noted that once orphanages operating below standards were identified they could be supported to do the right thing, and indicated that it would not be right to close down all such facilities.
The issues enumerated above and others that constitute abuse on the rights of the child deserve urgent attention, because the child cannot wait and it behoves the new Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, to honour her promise during the swearing-in of new ministers by the President, to work in collaboration with the relevant agencies and institutions, as well as ministries, to uphold the rights of women and children.
The minister reportedly said she would work in partnership with the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Youth, Employment and Social Welfare, Education and relevant bodies to overhaul her ministry and turn the fortunes of women and children around.
This really is a herculean task but not insurmountable, when tackled with commitment, dedication and steadfastness.
Parents also need to be empowered to enable them play their parental roles meaningfully to ensure that children have the opportunity to live in families with a loving caregiver for life and not in institutions that have mushroomed in parts of the country.