Parents, guardians asked to instil moral values in children
The acting Executive Secretary of the Domestic Violence Secretariat, Ms Victoria Natsu, has reminded parents and guardians of their responsibility to instil moral values in children and protect them from various forms of abuse.
Advertisement
She said commercial sex exploitation of children (CSEC), which was a serious form of abuse against children, continued to be a canker because the moral values in society had been neglected.
According to her “CSEC has become a big deal because of late the moral fabric of society has fallen apart”.
She made this observation at a workshop of the Ghana NGO Coalition on The Rights of The Child, organised by the Jil Foundation in Accra on Tuesday.
CSEC
Commercial sex exploitation of children (CSEC) refers to commercial transactions that involve sexual abuse of children such as child prostitution and child pornography.
The practice may also involve coercion and violence against children amounting to forced labour and forcing children to offer sexual services for compensation, financial support, among others.
Morality
Explaining further, Ms Natsu observed that instead of helping to inculcate sound moral values in children, some families had rather resorted to commercial sex exploitation of children, citing cases of incest and some families selling their children off to sex traders.
“If the morality and structure of the family have broken down, then we have a challenge as a country,” she said.
She observed that schools which should also serve as alternative avenues for instilling discipline in children, had also lost their significance because some teachers and heads of schools engaged in sexual relationships with their students.
She explained that the menace had become so rampant that students had lost confidence in the educational structure. That, she said, had become a catalyst for some people not to regard the system as an authority that could shield them from such sexual exploitations.
Advice
Ms Natsu said it was incumbent on every individual to come on board so that the issue could be addressed, and stressed that religious bodies had a responsibility to teach and inculcate good moral values in children so that they become aware of what was right and what was not right so they did not go astray when they grew up.
GES intervention
An officer at the Counselling Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Roland Takyi, said the GES was putting certain measures in place to build the capacity of students on issues regarding CSEC.
He said students would be given enough information about the canker through adolescent reproductive health education. That, he said, would make them assertive and be able to speak up and not shy away when they were abused in such a manner.
He added that the guidance and counselling sections of the various educational institutions would be equipped and the staff trained to make their services more relevant to students and pupils.
Mr Takyi said the initiative was in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GES).
He also advised parents to train their children well and sensitise them to issues of CSEC and urged them to report such cases to the police or the appropriate authorities.