Parents advised to report cases of sexual violation
Parents have asked to report defilement and rape cases to the police.
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The Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Children of the Ministry of Gender, Children and social Protection, Mr Anthony Dontoh said that would halt defilement cases and child marriages.
He added that the new trend was that when girls were sexually assaulted and got pregnant, the culprits were asked to marry them instead of the family resorting to legal action.
He said there was the need for collective efforts by all, especially parents, to report such cases.
Durbar of schoolchildren
Mr Dontoh was speaking at a durbar of schoolchildren and the people of Akateng in the Upper-Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region to round off a week-long programme organised in conjunction with Plan-Ghana and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, to commemorate the AU Day of the African Child.
According to the Multiple Cluster Indicator of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) 2011, 6.9 per cent of females were married before 15 years and 27.2 per cent were married before 18 years, while the national average for 15-year-old girls was 5.8 per cent and 27 per cent for 18 years.
Mr Dontoh noted that more action needed to be taken to halt the trend in the region to ensure that girls stayed in school and were empowered to be able to contribute their quota to the society.
The District Chief Executive, Mr Joseph Angmor, thanked the organisers for having the programme in the community and also added his voice to calls on parents to report defilement and rape cases.
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Lack of cooperation
He said lack of cooperation from victims and failure of parents to help in the prosecution of offenders was a major problem and advised chiefs and community leaders to help address the problem of early and forced marriages.
As part of the programme, the organisers visited schools in the communities to educate them on child marriages.
There were also debates on the topic: “Child marriage in Africa is a challenge.” A number of schools in the Eastern Region, including the Mangoase Methodist, Gbolo Kofi Presby Junior High, the New Juaben and Koforidua Secondary Technical senior high schools took part in the debate.