50 Traditional rulers equipped to help reduce child marriages
Fifty selected chiefs and queenmothers in the Central Region have been schooled on child marriage. As part of the training, they were urged to report cases in the communities to the relevant agencies for appropriate action.
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They were selected from the Edina, Eguafo, Denkyira, Abura, Asebu and Kwamankese traditional areas of the Central region.
The participants at the two-day programme were taken through the Children's Act, the Rights of Children and the Domestic Violence Act.
The Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Richlove Amamoo, urged them to support education in the communities to reduce the incidence of child marriages.
Support efforts
Ms said child marriages continued in communities and it was essential that traditional authorities, as custodians of the communities, worked to ensure perpetrators faced the full rigours of the law.
She said traditional rulers must support efforts to promote the rights of adolescents, particularly girls, and their well-being.
She explained that child marriages constituted a violation of the child's rights and must not be condoned in the communities.
Ms Amamoo said girls must be protected and supported to reach their utmost goals.
The Central Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSSU), Chief Superintendent George Appiah Sakyi, said traditional rulers must not trivialise domestic violence and sexual and gender-based violence in the communities.
"Please, no leader should collect goats and schnapps and settle sexual offences," he stated.
He urged them to collaborate with related agencies to reduce sexual offences in the communities. The participants pledged to work to reduce the incidence of child marriages.