Child Abuse Support Fund to be established soon

Kumasi, March 25, GNA - The Ashanti Regional Multi-sectoral Child protection Committee is working out modalities for the establishment of a Child Abuse Fund very soon.

Monies to be lodged in the fund when set up would be used to assist children identified to have been sexually abused but with no support.


The decision to establish the fund was unanimously taken by members of the Ashanti Regional Multi-sectoral Child Protection Committee at its first quarterly meeting this year in Kumasi on Thursday.


The committee also agreed that part of the money would be channelled into supporting the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service in the Ashanti Region.


The committee noted that many children who were sexually abused were normally denied justice because of they could not afford to pay for medical report.

Mr Peter Eduful, Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), appealed to the UNICEF, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations and philanthropists to assist the committee to establish the fund. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Comfort Boateng, Head of WAJU, Ashanti region, also appealed to philanthropists to assist the Unit with a temporary building to house children who run to WAJU for protection as a result of maltreatment and neglect.


She said, "Most of such cases occur and in some instances, police officers offer temporary accommodation to victims until their cases are determined ".


Mr Dennis Adjei, a legal practitioner, who represented the Ghana Bar Association on the committee called on Ghanaians to assist the GNCC and other child related bodies in protecting children's rights.