School Children appeal for peace in Dagbon

Savelugu (N/R), Nov. 20, GNA- More than 300 school children in the Savelugu/Nanton District of the Northern Region on Thursday marched through the principal streets of Savelugu to appeal to parents, opinion and religious leaders to give peace a chance in Dagbon.

They carried placards some of which read:" Parents, chiefs, give peace a chance", "our future is at risk", "Members of Parliament work for peace in Dagbon", "fathers bring back our mothers".

The march was organised by Youth Alive, a Tamale-based NGO involved in education and other social activities, in collaboration with the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), the Ghana Education Service (GES) and sponsored by ActionAid Ghana.

It was on the theme: "Children, victims of adult violence, why?" Madam Agnes Chiravera, Programme Director of Youth Alive, said the children were marching to register their protest to their parents, opinion leaders and chiefs for failing to find a lasting solution to the Dagbon crisis.

Madam Chiravera said the voices and concerns of the children must be heard because they were the most affected in situations of conflict, which disrupts their education and moral upbringing.

The Children later presented a communiqu? expressing their concerns about the situation in Dagbon to Mr Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister for onwards delivery to President John Agyekum Kufuor.

They said among other things that because of the Dagbon crisis, some mothers and their children had been thrown out of their matrimonial homes.

"In this situation, some of us are denied maintenance by our fathers and since we cannot pay our school fees ourselves, we are eventually thrown out of school".

The communiqu? noted that as a result of the conflict, many social workers and teachers have fled the area to the detriment of development and quality teaching and learning in the schools.

The communiqu? drew the attention of parents and other opinion leaders in Dagbon to the 1992 constitution, the Children's Act of 1989 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provide among other things that children must have the right to live and grow with both their parents.

It recommended that the two feuding factions in the Dagbon crisis should sincerely give peace a chance and accept to reconcile now and that all mothers who had fled their matrimonial homes due to the conflict should be brought back with their children.

The communiqu? called on the government, religious bodies and civil society not to give up but persevere to facilitate the peace process in Dagbon. Mr Thomas Wejong, Special Assistant to the Northern Regional Minister who received the communiqu?, said the government would not relent in its efforts at finding a lasting solution to the conflict.

He advised the children not to allow themselves to be used by their parents or opinion leaders to perpetrate violence.