Hundreds of children from over 20 schools in Senya Bereku in the Central Region have submitted a communique demanding their child rights to the District Chief Executive of Awutu Senya West District Assembly, Sampson Armah Abbey. 
The communique was formulated at the end of a child right conference organized by “Challenging Heights” a child rights organisation in partnership with the Canadian High Commission over the weekend.
The theme of the conference was “Child Right Is Your Responsibility” and commenced with approximately 500 students who were empowered with knowledge about their rights.
The president of Challenging Heights, James Kofi Annan, said about 250 children were trafficked from Senya Bereku to work on the Volta lake at Yeji in 2015 alone.
Citi News understands that some parents in Senya Bereku receive a meagre amount of GHc50 in exchange of their children to go and work as slave labourers in the fishing industry on the Volta Lake.
The participants in the communique spelled out the responsibilities of the government, the police, teachers and parents in protecting child rights.
Find excerpts of the communique below:
The Government
We would like the government to release the capitation grant on time so we the children can enjoy our free compulsory education as one of our right.
We want the government to improve school facilities and infrastructure so that the children will benefit fully from the education setting.
We need to point out that there are many loopholes in our laws implementation. We don’t see any system or mechanism in Senya Bereku that protects children from all kinds of child abuse, and there is no a direct educational scholarship or benefits for children who have been victims of child abuse.
We would like the Awutu Senya West District Assembly to implement programs that will help our communities and our parents to understand the importance of education so they will send their children to school. Many parents are ignorant of this and it is affecting us greatly.
The Police
We beg your high esteem officers to provide resources from the Ghana Police Service to Senya Bereku to focus on the all forms of child labour and child trafficking in our district. Many of our friends are trapped in the culture of trafficking and its very painful to see some of them in videos and know what they go are going through.
We need a district social welfare office in Senya. We don’t have any social offices in Senya. Those cases need to be reported Awutu Bereku, and we, the children, cannot get all the way there to report cases.
The Teachers
It should be the responsibility of teachers to protect their students against abuses at school and be aware of any abuses that may be happening at home
Teachers should involve parent decision making regarding the welfare of their children. This is part of the Parent Teachers Association.
Teacher should educate children on their civic rights and responsibilities. There should be guidance and counselling units in the schools to address the challenges that children face various stages.
The Parents
We believe parents should provide basic needs in terms of food and quality healthcare for their children and make sure that children are safe and healthy.
Parents should include their children in decision making regarding their welfare, and they should not discriminate against their children on the basis of gender, physical disability, or age.
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By Akwasi Koranteng/citifmonline.com/Ghana