‘Expedite action on children’s rights reports’
The government has been entreated to expedite action on the submission of outstanding country reports on the situation of children’s rights and related issues to the Committee of Experts of the African Union (AU).
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That, the Union of West African Coalitions for Children (UWAC), said, would prevent the situation where Ghana would be tagged as being non-compliant with AU issues relating to child rights implementation and reporting.
The President of UWAC, Mr Moussa Sidikou, and a member of the Committee of Experts, Ms Aissatou Sidikou, jointly gave the advice when they interacted with some media persons in Accra.
Fact-finding mission
The two were part of a team dispatched to Ghana to find out the challenges that had prevented the country from submitting those reports.
They have so far met with relevant stakeholders that have promised the submission of the reports before the close of the year.
Ghana is hailed as the first country to ratify the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, an initiative of the United Nations, but has failed to comply with the AU on a similar programme.
Failure to submit reports
The country report to the AU Committee of Experts should be submitted every three years.
The first country report on Ghana should have been submitted in 2007 but that was not done.
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Those for 2010 and 2013 have also not been submitted, lending an avenue for a critique of the country’s commitment to child right issues.
Mr Sidikou said it was only with the submission of the country reports that an objective analysis of the country’s scenario on child rights and ancillary matters could be evaluated for an easy comprehension by other members of the union.
Double standards?
For her part, Ms Sidikou said it was surprising that Ghana had been able to submit timely reports on the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC) to the UN but had failed when it came to making same to the AU.
If Ghana failed to present the reports, she said, the Committee of Experts would be compelled to take up the alternative reports from the Ghana NGOs Coalition on the Rights of the Child (GNCRC) as being representative of the country’s report.
Involve children
The acting National Co-ordinator of the GNCRC, Barima Kwasi Amankwaah, said the dissemination of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was crucial to Ghanaian children to understand the roles they could play in contributing to the development of the country.
He, therefore, called for the participation of children at all levels of decision making and urged the media to champion that cause.
Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh