Child rights CSOs mark 20th anniversary
A lecturer and Child Rights Activist, Mr Edmund Amarkwei Foley, has called for public support for a national strategy to enhance child protection, empowerment and opportunities for the development of children.
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He observed that the best way to do this was to have the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that had a direct link with child protection to be absorbed into the national policy framework.
He made the recommendation at the launch of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Ghana Non-Governmental Organisations Coalition on the Rights of the Child (GNCRC) that took place in Accra last Monday.
The occasion was on the theme, “SDGs for all Children in Ghana and Africa as a Continent; Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunities.”
Present at the launch were civil society organisations (CSOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing in child rights, child rights advocates and representatives from the Department of Social Welfare.
Critical SDGs
Mr Amarkwei said the SDGs on poverty, hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, and those on gender equality, clean water and sanitation had a direct bearing on the development of children.
“Our children are at the risk of violence, conflict, neglect, and other form of abuses. Because of these there was the need for efforts to be accelerated in order to protect, empower, and create opportunities for them,” he said.
He urged civil society organisations and NGOs involved in the attainment of child rights to adopt robust approaches and strategies and partner with state institutions to promote child right issues.
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CSOs and NGOs are key
For his part, the acting National Coordinator of GNCRC, Mr Barima Amakwaah, said the coalition had a pivotal role to play through its interventionist approaches and complemented the efforts of the government in promoting protection and other rights of the child.
He mentioned initiatives such as the Juvenile Justice Project and Girls Power Project as efforts the coalition was engaged in to reduce sexual exploitation and domestic violence against children.