Most adults in Ghana are reportedly finding it difficult to accept that children have rights which must be respected.
This is according to the former Vice chair of United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo.
This, among other things, she said is seriously hampering the implementation and enforcement of Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Ghana is said to be the first nation that ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1990 but not many successes have been made chalked in its implementation due to cultural practices which prevents children from being heard.
Speaking at a media reporters’ workshop on ‘Eliminating Child Marriage in Ghana’, Dr. Aidoo recommended that Ghana can make positive strides if it simplifies the details of the Convention and incorporate them into the nation’s educational system.
According to her, the UN CRC has made this recommendation to “nearly every country in the world over and over again. We need to start with the education of the children in the children’s right issues and their responsibilities because they have evolving capacities.”
She revealed that many countries presently have produced child friendly versions of the Convention together with rights of the child spelt out in their various national constitutions.
“The Act is complex and not easy to understand. It has to be simplified for the children at their levels of education and this is happening in many countries,” she stressed.
Dr. Aidoo acknowledged that although the rights and responsibilities of children as stipulated in the 1992 constitution are being taught in schools, it is treated lightly which creates a nation of ignorant citizens who are oblivious to the laws of their land.
“Ghana doesn’t incorporate the Children’s Rights Act as such in the educational system…we are not incorporating it specifically enough. They will teach about the constitution which is fine. It defines the rights of children in Article 28 and that is not as highlighted as we would like to see,” she remarked.
She challenged all relevant stakeholders and advocacy groups to get the state to incorporate various laws on child rights into educational system and also produce the relevant texts that the children can understand.
“It’s the responsibility of everybody because the child rights are so multi-sectorial, so multi-dimensional.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana