The state must enforce laws, policies on children – Lawyer

Lawyer, gender activist, and Executive Director of The Ark Foundation Ghana has reminded the state of its obligation to enforce policies and laws intended to protect the rights of children.

Madam Angela Dwamena-Aboagye pointed out how the country had not been able to implement more than ten percent of its existing laws and policies concerning child rights.

She recommended the monitoring of actions that secured the rights of children, properly accounting for progress of work done, both locally and internationally and securing the maximum participation of key actors as key measures to ensure that the safety of children was guaranteed.

“It is high time the state took more interest in working with the laws to know their strength rather than revising it. Let us test the laws, not just being interested in the text,” she said.

She said the state could enhance implementation of the law via, “Prevention by investing in education and sensitization activities nationwide, Protection by utilizing the law and institutions to help vulnerable children, address prosecution gaps which continues to remain a hindrance and involve more of stake holders.”

The Gender activist made this submission at an online seminar series dubbed, “The Thriving Child” by Compassion International – an American child sponsorship and Christian humanitarian aid organisation focused on the long-term development of children globally.

The seminar was on the theme, “Policy Framework on Children: The Law and Practice” and with the aim to empower advocates and staff of the organisation with “the necessary tools to address the challenges they encounter while releasing children from poverty.”

She noted that the scope of child rights had expanded and grown in interpretation, sometimes conflicting with national and international interest especially, after the post COVID-19 era which had also seen the emergence of sophisticated technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), which was being used negatively against children.

She advised stakeholders in child rights advocacy and activities to acquaint themselves with the global and regional expectations as enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Convention of the Rights of a child and the African Charter on the rights of a child to inform and direct their activities.

Mr. Bright Appiah, the Executive Director of Child Rights International, presented a history of the country’s legal framework on child rights, being the first to ratify the UN Rights and Conventions of a child.

“The adoption of laws such as the Children’s Act 560 of 1998, the Adoption Act of 1992, the Day-Care Centres Decree, 1978 (S.M.C.D. 144) Juvenile Justice Act 653 (2003) deals with the survival, protection, enjoyment of special rights such as the protection of identity during criminal trials and exemption from death sentence, growth and development of children”, he said.

Appiah also listed some achievements and benefits of these legal provisions in the lives of Ghanaians children. This included reforms in the educational system which brought about Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) and Free Senior High School, free school uniforms, Polio eradication and many more.

Despite the successes, Ghanaian children continue to face challenges such as health care access which he says cost the lives thousands of children yearly.

“Take the challenges children face in accessing healthcare through the country’s healthcare system for example. Lack of access leads to about 50 thousand children dying yearly due to lack of access to oxygen,” he said.