Religious bodies urged to preach against abuses

Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has appealed to Religious bodies to use their platforms to spread the cause of child protection in contributing to the moral fibre of the nation.

She called for a unified approach in developing preventive and response mechanisms to child protection issues with the help of the Districts Assemblies, Departments of Social Welfare and Community Development and civil society organizations.

Mrs. Lithur made the appeal on Tuesday at a consultative forum with religious leaders and faith-based organizations on the Child and Family Welfare Policy in Accra organized by the sector Ministry and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

She said a draft National Child and Welfare Policy has been produced to address challenges under three main themes – family related challenges, child maltreatment and behavior changes.

According to her, the draft policy is to ensure the welfare and well-being of children and families by supporting and promoting family and community strategies and processes and ensure that services are available for children and their families when facing difficulties.

She said the policy is necessary because the family is considered the bedrock of society and that the child’s identity is determined by being part of the family and clan since a strengthened family leads to a well-supported child.

Mrs. Lithur said the Ministry with support from development partners undertook a Mapping Exercise in 2010, to generate evidence of the true state of child protection in the country, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system; and develop appropriate solutions.

She said key findings of the exercise were that, although the country has a legal framework, there is poor implementation, juvenile justice not integrated into broader justice system, lack of clarity in mandates of key stakeholders’ institutions, and no comprehensive national policy framework for child protection.

She said the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey in 2008 shows that under five mortality rates had declined by 30 per cent from 111/1000 live births in 2003 to 80/1000 live births, stressing that, more needs to be done to reduce the figure.

She said the Ghana Child Labor Survey from the Statistical Service in 2003 estimated that 6.36 million children were engaged in paid economic activities.

Dr. Joyce Aryee, Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministry, said children are the future of every nation. And as gifts from God, it behooves all to ensure children are raised in a manner pleasing to God.

Dr. Aryee said spirituality, which does not change people’s behaviour is not worth it and urged all to set a solid foundation for the well-being of the children to have an environment free of abuse, violent, vulnerability and exclusion.

Mrs. Susan Namondo Ngongi, UNICEF Country’s Representative to Ghana, said the forum would enable stakeholders to chart the way forward in addressing and finding solutions to child protection in the country.