Kumasi, Sept. 14, GNA - The Network for Street Children, a coalition of NGOs in Ashanti working to enhance the quality of life of street children has urged government agencies to give serious attention to the rights of the child in their strategic planning on main-streaming issues on children.
The Network is of the view that if this was done, there would be more sanctions and the enforcement of the laws that protect the rights of the child.
In a communique issued by the Network in Kumasi on Saturday after a clean up exercise at an abandoned Ink and Chalk Factory which had been converted into a dwelling place of most street children in the Metropolis, it said this would also enable more resources to flow from the HIPC, Social Investment Fund (SIF) and other funds into street children's projects.
The communiqu=E9 called for unity and co-operation from all segments of the society pointing out that it was only through collaborative efforts that comprehensive and strategic responses could be designed to address the problem of street children.
The Network expressed its appreciation for the massive attention and support it had received from various organisations and the government at various levels in addressing the problem of street children.
The communiqu=E9 specifically mentioned the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) for financial support and expressed the hope that it would continue to assist the Network in its programmes.
Mr Tanko Sulemana, caretaker, appealed to the KMA to provide the centre with toilet facilities as the inmates found it difficult to get a place of convenience, especially at night as the area had been surrounded by criminal gangs who could easily rape the girls and rob them of their belongings.
He also called for the rehabilitation of the structures and also appealed to the KMA to establish a day care centre to cater for the numerous children born there.
