Cape Coast, Feb. 23, GNA – Madam Monica Siaw, the Central Regional Director of Social Welfare, has charged community leaders to form child-protection committees to facilitate the protection of children against social vices militating against their growth.
She said the watchdog committees should consist of religious and traditional leaders, parents, teachers and opinion leaders among others, who would institute by-laws to ensure adherence to child rights and prevent their abuse.
Madam Siaw, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said when formed, her outfit will train the members on the laws on children protection to guide them in helping to protect them.
She described the lack of parental supervision as a major problem that had given rise to violations such as defilement, physical abuse, starvation and child trafficking.
Such violations took their childhood from them, affecting their economic, social and health wellbeing with dire emotional and psychological consequences, she said.
Data from the Central Regional Health Directorate, for instance, indicated that the region recorded 7,558 cases of adolescent pregnancies, including a nine-year old child, in 2021, which was 2,743 shy of the cases recorded in 2020.
Additionally, the region recorded a significant number of child trafficking cases with as many as 30 children, in one instance, found at Assin Fosu on their way to Yeji near the Volta Lake in the Bono East Region.
“If a child gives birth to a child, what happens to that child too? The vicious cycle of poverty goes on in that family and the community will be the loser,” Madam Siaw said.
She expressed the hope that the committees would complement the work of the Social Welfare Department and, therefore, reminded parents and the entire community of their role in caring for children.
“I feel that by doing this, it will help prevent the high number of teen pregnancies that we have been recording in the region,” she said.
GNA