Report ranks Ghana fairly child friendly

Story: Salome Donkor
THE 2008 African Report of Child Well-being, has rated Ghana 29th in terms of the country’s efforts to improve child well-being.
Prepared by The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), an independent, Pan- African policy and advocacy centre based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the report reviews and compares the performance of 52 African governments using a common set of indicators and an innovative Child-friendliness Index developed by ACPF.
The report that scores and ranks the performance of African governments in terms of their efforts to improve child well-being, is prepared every two years and the current one was launched on 20 November 2008 in Nairobi and Amsterdam. The report was made possible through the financial support of International Child Support (ICS) and Plan International.
Ghana is among countries like Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Gabon, Mozambique, Togo, Zambia, Mauritania, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger that were categorised as fairly Child Friendly Countries.
The most Child Friendly Countries include Mauritius, Namibia, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Kenya, South Africa, Algeria and Cape Verde.
According to the report, a child-friendly government is “one that is making the maximum effort to meet its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil child rights and ensure child well-being.”
Dr Assefa Bequele, Executive Director of ACPF, in a statement said African Governments had an impressive record in their formal accession to the relevant child-focused international treaties. But the extent of their commitment to children’s issues varies widely, and the gap between promises and reality remains wide in many countries.
Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, former Foreign Minister of Tanzania and a three-term former Secretary General of Organisation of African Union (OAU) now African Union, in a statement said “we are convinced that the report is a significant contribution to public policy. It is an African report on African children by an African organisation”. In another statement, Professor Jaap Doek, former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, adds that “This is a meticulously researched and evidence - based report, and the first of its kind on the subject in the region.”
A statement issued by Mr Bright Appiah, Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, a Ghanaian child’s rights organisation, said the extent to which government respected children and protected them from harm and abuse, and provided them with opportunities for a healthy and productive life had an impact both on the future of the children concerned and the future of the country.
It added that a healthy, well-fed and educated child population was necessary to build a foundation for productive and knowledge-based economy that could make the people participate effectively in today’s globalised world.
“Similarly, the way we raise and treat our children at home and at school is critical for what they will be as adults and citizens. A child growing up in an environment where he sees his mother being beaten by the father, where girls are discriminated against and excluded, where differing views and opinions are not tolerated, and where choices are not negotiated contribute to chaos and democratic disorder” it said.
The statement made reference to the fact that Ghana was the first country in the world to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and urged the government to lay down the appropriate legal and policy frameworks that must be reflected in the laws, policies on government’s commitment to child protection
It said the most Child Friendly countries earned that rating because they put in place appropriate legal provisions to protect children against abuse and exploitation; they also allocated a relatively higher share of their budgets to provide for the basic needs of children and their resources were effectively used and the results reflected in the children themselves.