Child right

THE Children’s Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organisation, has launched the 2009 Easter School for Children in Accra.
The annual event, which started nine years ago, was instituted by the CRI and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), to inculcate in the children a sense of responsibility to participate effectively in issues affecting them.
The theme for this year’s Easter school is: “Growing child participation through service learning”, and it is aimed at involving children in discussing national issues.
The Executive Director of CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said the Easter school was a medium to promote child participation in the country and also involve them in issues that affect them.
Mr Appiah said: “Child participation ensures and enhances expression of opinion, self-confidence, self-involvement and provides understanding for children to better appreciate issues that affect them,”.
He noted that the Easter school, since its inception in 2000, had provided the platform for children to discuss and share issues.
He expressed optimism that at the end of this year’s school, the Ghanaian child would be factored into the broader decision-making process.
The acting Director at the Children’s Department of the Ministry for Women and Children’s Affairs, Mr Peter Eduful, who delivered the speech on behalf of the minister, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, said the biggest challenge to society was how to raise children and prepare them adequately to take up adult roles and responsibilities and also contribute effectively to future national development.
She said children continued to suffer various forms of discrimination and deprivation including their inability to express their minds freely and participate fully in matters which affected them in the family and society.
She said: “Participation is one of the guiding principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Ghana proudly signed as the first UN nation in 1991.”
She urged children to take their education seriously and also abstain from negative practices such as drinking, patronising pornography, premarital sex and using narcotic drugs.
Speaking on behalf of the acting Inspector of Police (IGP), Mrs Elizabeth Mills- Robertson, the Director of Community Policing, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Florence Arthur, said policemen who violated the rights and freedom of children should be arrested and prosecuted.
She also said children should report any form of violence against them for the necessary action to be taken.
For his part, the Programme Support Manager of Plan Ghana, Mr William Agyekum Acquah, said the unit would support children to be key actors in their own development.
Mr Acquah reiterated that resources should be used to harness the development of the Ghanaian child.
Ghana ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the child. This Convention has a fundamental principle and an internationally agreed framework necessary for ensuring minimum standards for the well-being of the child and to which every child is entitled.
The CRI was registered in 1997 as a non-governmental organisation committed to the principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana
The CRI also helps in building the capacity of students to be able to effectively participate in the discussion of issues that bother on the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of children.
This year’s programme is scheduled to take place in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region from April 18 to 23, 2009.