By Solomon Gumah
Bimbila (N/R) June 19, GNA – A day’s event to commemorate this year’s International Day of the African Child has been held at Bimbilla in the Nanumba North Municipality of the Northern Region to raise awareness on issues confronting young people.
The event, organised by ActionAid Ghana in partnership with Songtaba, both non-governmental organisations, was to serve as a build-up to the recognition of children’s rights at home, school, community, national and international levels.
It was on the theme: “The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment,” and brought together various stakeholders and students from some selected schools in the Municipality.
Mrs Beatrice Biije, Programmes Officer at ActionAid Ghana, speaking during the event, said the theme was carefully selected by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Mrs Biije said, “The digital age has profoundly altered how children exercise and realise their rights. It mediates children’s life in ways that have an impact on how they can exercise their rights and how those rights may be strengthened or violated.”
She emphasised that the lack of access to the internet impeded children’s rights such as education, freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to play.
She said the major challenge affecting children’s effective participation in the digital world continued to be limited internet access, rich people having advantage over the poor,
men having advantage over women, cities having advantage over rural areas and people with education having advantage over those without education.
She said, “Prior to the day’s event, we embarked on a three-day sensitisation campaign in some six schools within the Municipality to educate children on how to use the digital space to advance their education.”
The schools included, EP Demostration Junior High School, Pognaa Girls’ Junior High School, Chamba Girls’ Junior High School A and B, Chamba Girls’ Model School and Dakpam Junior High School.
Mrs Biije called on the government and other stakeholders to prioritise the protection and promotion of children’s rights in the digital environment to enhance their growth and development.
Mr Iddrisu Sanday Azabu, Northern Regional Director of the Department of Children, expressed need to safeguard the rights of children and facilitate their inclusion in the digital environment to maximise their potential and prepare them for national development.
He urged parents and guardians not to discriminate between their male and female children in terms of access to technology, saying “Do not be selective on how children explore the digital world. Instead, regulate and monitor them to ensure they are not exposed to online sexual exploitation and other forms of abuses.”
The Children later presented a petition to the Nanumba North Municipal Assembly to draw government and other stakeholders’ attention to the need to develop a pragmatic approach to enhance children’s access to Information and Communication Technology.
The petition, which was read by Miss Limpu Amina, School Prefect of Pognaa Girls’ Junior High School, said the digital environment now constituted a relevant space, and children and other young people should be meaningfully involved in the decision-making processes leading to the creation of policies aimed at children’s empowerment, protection and support.
She urged the government to ensure that children had quality access to the digital world by providing equipment such as computers, laptops and internet services to enable them have access to varied information and knowledge.
She further called on the state to provide for the protection of children by adopting, implementing and disseminating social policies and programmes to prevent and criminalise offences such as sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
A representative of Mr Abdulai Yaqoub, Nanumba North Municipal Chief Executive, received the petition and acknowledged the preparedness of the government to support the growth and development of children in the country.
The International Day of the African Child is commemorated every year on June 16, to honour the students of Soweto, South Africa, who were massacred for protesting segregation and ill-treatment against black children in schools.
GNA