'Government is committed to the welfare and rights of children' - Gender minister

Mrs Cynthia Morrison, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has said the government is totally committed to the welfare and rights of children.

She said government was ensuring that children's rights were prioritized in all spheres of national development.

Mrs Morrison made the assurance Monday at a stakeholder’s forum to commemorate the 2020 National Children’s Day celebration in Accra.

It was on the theme: “5 Years of Implementing the Child and Family Welfare Policy (CFWP); the Achievements, Challenges and the way forward”

Mrs Morrison noted that child protection was multifaceted thus, Ghana with support from development partners, was piloting an integrated Social Services Programme in 60 districts.

This, she noted, would assist children, families, vulnerable adults to consolidate the relevant health, education, justice systems, all social protection programmes as well as the Inter-Sectoral Standard Operation Procedure (ISSOP).

“There is an ongoing process to our Children’s Act, the Juvenile Justice Act to address current child protection issues faced in the country among other legislations as far as child protection is concerned.”

The Minister said in addition to the various interventions underway, capacity of institutions such as Social Development offices, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Community Development had been built for effective policy implementation.

Despite these successes, there were still challenges of incomplete decentralization of departments responsible for the protection of children, payment of medical examination by victims of abuse, lack of acceptance of child rights issues in communities, and lack of enforcement of laws protecting children towards the implementation of the policy.

The Country Director of World Vision in a statement read on his behalf assured government of continues support and called for the repositioning of the various departments as well as the review the CFWP for the needed attention.

Mr Solomon Tesfamariam, Country Director, Plan International, noted the importance of children’s protection in society and pledged support to their welfare.

He noted that for this reason, Plan had approved a number of strategies for the partnership to engage children in different fora to avoid further abuse.

Mr Fiachra McAsey, UNICEF Deputy Country Representative, commended the Ministry for celebrating children and also pledged support to the fight against child marriage.