The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, has stated that “Ghana is doing so much to make the lives of children better”.
Making a statement on the floor of parliament for the commemoration of the World Children’s Day on the 20th November 2018, the Sector Minister noted that Ghana is not doing bad at all, notwithstanding the fact that, “children still face a lot of abuses. About 33% of children in Ghana are said to have been sexually abused. These include rape, molestation, touching of private parts, watching pornography, the use of inappropriate language, and dirty jokes”.
According to the 2014 DHS, on the average, 1 out of 5 girls in Ghana is married before their 18th birthday. The 2014 DHS again reports that, 14% of girls aged 15 to 19 years had begun having children. About 29% of children under 5 years do not have birth certificates whiles 22% of Children aged 5 to 14 years are engaged in child labour. Children aged 2-14 years who experience violence discipline is 94%.
“On the 20th of November when we join the rest of the world to go blue, we will actually be pledging to; Celebrate children; Support their rights; and amplify their voices.”
“We want to build a world where every child is in school, safe from harm and can fulfill their potential.”
United Nations World’s Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
Below is the full statement:
STATEMENT BY HON. MINISTER FOR GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL PROTECTION CYNTHIA MAMLE MORRISON FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF THE WORLD CHILDREN’S DAY ON THE 20TH NOVEMER 2018
- SPEAKER
HON. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
FRIENDS FROM THE MEDIA,
DEAR CHILDREN,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
It is a pleasure for me today to be in this august house to read this statement in commemoration of the World Children’s Day.
United Nations World’s Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date it 1989 when the UN General assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Mr. Speaker, this day is indeed a day worthy of celebration since the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most signed and ratified UN Convention in the world and it is interesting to note that, Ghana made history by being the 1st Member State to ratify the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child.
The Universal Children’s Day was instituted to offer each member state an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children’s rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for Children.
Mr. Speaker, this year, Children are taking over and turning the world blue. November 20th is a day to celebrate the progress made for children, ask leaders to commit to protection, promotion of children’s rights including their development. It is also a day set aside to discuss the prevention and elimination of violence, abuse and exploitation of children. It’s a day for children, by children, when the world’s youngest citizens are uniting together to call on governments to invest in the future of their countries by giving every child access to quality education in a safe environment.
Mr. Speaker, Ghana is doing so much to make the lives of children better. That notwithstanding, children still face a lot of abuses. About 33% of children in Ghana are said to have been sexually abused. This includes rape, molestation, touching of private parts, watching pornography, the use of inappropriate language, and dirty jokes.
According to the 2014 DHS, on the average, 1 out of 5 girls in Ghana is married before their 18th birthday. The 2014 DHS again reports that, 14% of girls aged 15 to 19 years had begun having children. About 29% of children under 5 years do not have birth certificates whiles 22% of Children aged 5 to 14 years are engaged in child labour. Children aged 2 – 14 years who experience violence discipline is 94%.
On the 20th of November when we join the rest of the world to go blue, we will actually be pledging to; Celebrate children; Support their rights; and Amplify their voices.
We want to build a world where every child is in school, safe from harm and can fulfill their potential.
This celebration calls for people in the streets, on social media, in boardrooms and sporting activities across the country to commit to Go Blue with and for children in a way that amplihes children’s voices.
The day will further be used to create awareness on achievements of the Ghana Against Child Abuse Campaign (GACA). The GACA 1th Anniversary which was on the 19th of November, 2018 showcased the positive stories and testimonials resulting from the campaign. celebrated the successes with everyone associated with the GACA brand and used the opponunity to call on others to join the movement.
As we celebrate the Universal Children’s day today, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, UNICEF and Partners are calling on all Ghanaians to strive to create a country that fulfills its promise of a better future for her children as enshrined in the CRC, which Ghana was the 1st Country to ratify.
In Ghana, we would like to celebrate World Children’s Day through the following ways: Promote World Children’s Day to as many Ghanaians as possible through key media and social media channels and live platforms
0 Radio
0 Television
0 Social media twitter, Facebook, lnstagram, key partner websites
Encourage institutions, political leaders and influential individuals to listen to children, and give them a platform essentially to #GoBlue for the day
We call on all Ghanaians to also go blue for every child and to take a stand against child abuse so that no child is left behind in the development of our country.
I wish every child a happy World Children’s Day.
God bless every child and God bless Ghana.
Thank you