Chief Justice inaugurates child-friendly, gender-based violence court

Techiman, (BE/R), Dec.18, GNA- The Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has inaugurated Child Friendly Gender-Based Violence Court (CF-GBVC) in the Techiman Municipality with a call on everyone to help protect the general wellbeing of children.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) rehabilitated the Techiman Circuit Court and furnished it with security cameras, playing and testifying rooms for children, as well as other recreational facilities to make the court child friendly.

It also has a direct transcription system to facilitate live recording during proceedings.

Mr Anin-Yeboah said children were future leaders and their proper upbringing and development ought to be of utmost importance to everybody.

He advised parents to seek legal redress for their children of sexual and other abuses and desist from attempts to settle cases of child abuse in homes and at the community levels.

Mr Anin-Yeboah said work on a two-storey high court building has commenced in Techiman, saying plans were also far advanced for the construction of a judicial service administration block in the region.

He said the government had resourced the Family Justice Center of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) to promote child welfare and address gender-based violence.

The Chief Justice expressed appreciation to UNICEF for upgrading the courts, saying it would greatly facilitate the prosecution of cases.

Miss Hilda Mensah, the Child Protection Specialist of Justice for Children at the UNICEF, said gender-based violence remained a serious life-threatening issue inimical to the growth and development of children.

Oseadeeyo Ameyaw Akumfi IV, the Paramount Chief of Techiman Traditional Area, thanked UNICEF and the government and expressed the hope that with the courts’ cases of gender-based violence in the country would be brought under control.

GNA