By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Aug 15, GNA- Panelists at a forum in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region have called for a strategic collective approach to ending sexual exploitation in the informal sector to protect the rights and dignity of vulnerable young people.
The panelists noted that sexual exploitation was becoming more pronounced and heightened especially in the informal sector, infringing upon the rights of the youth, retarding growth and development.
They therefore underscored the need for strategic policy directions and interventions to empower the youth to be assertive to fight for their rights and become economically independent.
The forum was organised by the Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), a gender-focused organisation in partnership with Oxfam in Ghana and Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF) Ghana with funding support from the European Union as part of the implementation of the ENOUGH! Project.
It was also part of activities to mark the 2022 International Youth Day on the theme, “Highlighting strategies to ending sexual exploitation in the informal sector”.
Madam Paulina Agomsitiba, Unit Head, Department of Social Welfare, Bolgatanga East District, explained that although both boys and girls faced issues of sexual exploitation especially in the informal working environment, girls were the most vulnerable.
She said people who were into vocational skills acquisition including handiworks such as smock weaving, dressmaking, hairdressing among others were mostly sexually exploited due to their low economic status to pay for the apprenticeship fees and cater for themselves.
Sexual exploitation had become a big societal problem especially in the Upper East Region where people take advantage of vulnerable girls due to favours they render them and that in many cases had led to unplanned pregnancies and early marriages, she said.
She bemoaned the rising cases of such acts and called on parents to play crucial roles in providing the basic needs of their wards to enable them avoid being exploited.
Mr Edmund Alagpulinsa, the Upper East Regional Principal Investigator, Commission on Human rights, and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said sexual exploitation was a human right abuse which threatened the life of the victim.
He said apart from the national laws including the Criminal Offences Act of 1960, Act 29, which criminalizes sexual exploitation, Ghana had ratified the United Nations Conventions on the rights of the child and called for the strict enforcement of the laws to deal with perpetrators of the act.
He advised the public to report cases of harassment and sexual exploitation to the law enforcement and human rights institutions including CHRAJ, Ghana Police Service, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit among others for justice.
“The courts need to also expedite cases of sexual exploitation brought before them because that will encourage people to report such cases,” he said.
Ms Elizabeth Anafo, the Project Officer, WOM, noted that sexual exploitation was a gender-based violence, however, due to lack of knowledge people saw it as a normal practice and did not report such cases to the authorities for redress.
She said the informal sector employed majority of the youth and underscored the need for people to be sensitized to empower them with requisite information on their rights, the labour laws among others to help them become assertive and report such cases to help curb the menace.
GNA