“Let us love and protect our children, they are our assets, we shall account one day of how we cared for the gift given to us by God,” that’s what the Bible says.
Mr John Ato Breboh, Senior Principal Investigator CHRAJ Tema Regional Office, said a child was an integral part of the family whose welfare could not be separated from that of the family.
He added that the welfare of children must be aligned with all activities, services and norms to support the child in the context of the large family.
Mr Breboh stated during the 14th Edition of the Stakeholders Engagement and Workers’ Appreciation Day Seminar of the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
The GNA Tema Stakeholder Engagement is a platform rolled out for state and non-state actors to address national issues and serves as a motivational mechanism to recognize the editorial contribution of reporters toward national development in general and the growth and promotion of the Tema GNA as the industrial news hub.
The CHRAJ Senior Principal Investigator called for serious introspection and commitment among parents and the public toward addressing the numerous challenges facing children in the country.
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Mr Breboh explained that international human rights law laid down obligations which States are bound to respect, and Ghana by becoming parties to international treaties, assumed obligations and duties under international law to respect, protect and fulfil human rights.
He said the obligation to respect meant that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses.
The obligation to fulfil meant that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
He said through ratification of international human rights treaties, Governments undertook to put into place domestic measures and legislation compatible with their treaty obligations and duties.
“Where domestic legal proceedings fail to address human rights abuses, mechanisms and procedures for individual complaints or communications are available at the regional and international levels to help ensure that international human rights standards are indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level,” he said.
Mr Breboh said it was vital to acknowledge children’s rights and take a keen interest in their issues by ensuring that their rights were protected.
He said the child protection policy which included the child and family welfare policy in Ghana considered all the laws that protected children and served as a guide for protecting children within the family setting.
“A child who doesn’t have a network of the family goes through a lot in an event where the biological parents are not capable of taking care of them,” he stated.
He said children were vulnerable and required special protection and had human rights as part of International Laws irrespective of race, gender, language, and colour among others.
The CHRAJ Chief Principal Investigator added that the dignity and integrity of children needed to be protected from injustice.
“Human rights of children just like all other human beings must not be regarded as a favour, right or privilege conferred to by the state or any organisation,” Mr Breboh stated.
