Re-integration of children with their families is necessary - Child Expert

Mrs. Joyce Odame, Child Rights Manager of International Needs Ghana (INGH), has advocated for the re-integration of abused children with their families for proper childhood development.

She said it was the right of every child to be properly brought up in a conducive environment since children, who did not stay with their parents, were most vulnerable.

Mrs. Odame said this at a Stakeholder Dissemination Meeting on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Project in Accra on Friday.

The CSEC is one of the worst forms of child labour, which jeopardizes the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child because of its nature and the conditions under which it is carried out.

She said by the end of the three-year project 500 children in Accra would have been withdrawn or prevented from CSEC, rehabilitated and re-integrated into their families and society at large.

“By the end of the project 200 families of victims of or those at risk to CSEC would have been empowered economically,” she added.

Mrs. Odame said the organisation had also present training tools to some identified youth in communities namely La, Osu, Accra New Town, Maamobi, Nima and Malam Atta for different vocational training.

She advised parents to be more responsible to the total needs of their children and bring them up for national development.

Mrs. Mary Magdalene Yartey, Senior Programmer Officer of INGH, explained that the project would deploy participatory and rights-based approach to promote the rights of the child.

She said it would also build their capacities through education and training and to economically empower their parents or caregiver.

Mrs. Yartey said the organisation was collaborating with various stakeholders such as governmental and non-governmental organisations, community and faith-based organizations to design strategies to address the issues in the communities.