Rights of girls must be addressed – NGO

Plan, an International Children’s Development Organisation, has called on governments and policy makers to put gender equality at the “heart of the post 2015 framework,” and ensure that rights and needs of adolescent girls were addressed.

Post 2015 framework aims to help define the future global development.

Plan also appealed to governments to invest in research and evaluation to fashion out workable interventions in respect of women and girls.

These were contained in Plan’s, “2014 State of the World’s Girls Report” launched at a durbar to commemorate this year’s International Day of the Girl Child at Likpe-Bakua in the Volta Region.

The report, the eighth in a series, themed, “Pathways to Power: Creating Sustainable Change for Adolescent Girls” further called for the intensification of efforts to prevent gender-based violence and increase access to justice for girls and young women.

It said while women and children’s needs were recognised in policy and planning, the needs and rights of girls were often ignored.

The report focused on seven issues including, the burdening of girls with household chores, violence against girls, non-enforcement of laws towards the protection of girls and fewer educational opportunities for girls.

Mr Daniel Asomani, Project Manager, Plan-Ghana, who launched the report, said millions of girls below 18 years are forced into marriage yearly with, many of them suffering various abuses “every passing minute.”

He said it was therefore not enough to protect the basic human rights of girls but also to ensure that their voices were heard and encouraged.

Nana Gbordzo III, stool father of Likpe-Bakua, spoke about teenage pregnancy in the area and said it had effect on the education of girls.

Mr John Wilson Fiebor, Deputy Director, Supervision, Hohoe Municipal Education Directorate said when girls enroll and complete quality primary education; they overcome issues of unwanted pregnancies with increased financial skills and economic assets.

Plan-Ghana later inaugurated a ladies’ football team and handed over a three-unit classroom block to the community.

International Day of the Girl-Child is marked every October 11, for stakeholders to reflect on the girl-child, promote opportunities for girls and increase awareness of inequalities faced by girls worldwide based on their gender.