UNICEF launches End Violence Against Children project

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ghana has introduced the End Violence Against Children (EVAC) initiative to support major stakeholders such as the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and other key departments to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.

The project will specifically support the Cyber Security Authority with funds to coordinate, implement and monitor legal and policy frameworks such as the National Child Online Protection Framework to create a safer digital environment for every child in Ghana.

It will also provide training to professionals working in key departments such as the GPS, judiciary service, Cybercrime and Domestic Violence Units to be in better stead to prevent and respond to cases of online abuse, violence and exploitation. T

he EVAC project is expected to run from 2023 to 2025 across the country.

During the launch of the project, a Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF, Ms Hilda Mensah, said the initiative would fully implement the child protection digital forensic laboratory, a laboratory that allows the GPS to prevent and respond to cases of online violence against women and children.

“In recent times, the greater use of the Internet has increasingly exposed children and young people to the dangers of all forms of sexual abuse. While many opportunities for learning, recreation, play and socialisation are provided by the new technologies, they also increase the risk of abuse and exploitation of children.

It is in this light that this initiative is being launched to end online child exploitation and abuse,” she explained.

A Child Protection Specialist, Madam Lucia Soleti, applauded major stakeholders such as the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Department of Social Welfare and the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) for their efforts to end all forms of online child sexual exploitation and abuses.

She mentioned that the stakeholders constantly organised child protection sensitisation campaigns and events and noted that Ghana was currently leading in online safety in the sub-region as a result of those coordinated efforts.

She advocated the need for the EVAC project to target capacity building for parents to be able to monitor and empower their children to know what was harmful and risky on the Internet.

“Parents must be educated on how to teach their children to see them as first people to rely on whenever they face challenges or abuses online,” she stated.