The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) has planned to strengthen collaboration with partners and provide direct services such as birth registration and health screening to over 2,000 children across the nation.

The Ministry is seeking to achieve this objective at the end of the celebration of the National Children's Day and the 10th anniversary celebration of the passage of the Children's Act (Act 560), which is on the theme: "Children at the Centre of the Children's Act (Act 560)."

A statement issued yesterday by the Department of Children at the Ministry signed by Mr V.T. Kuuzume, Chief Director, said there would be an exhibition on child related activities, where direct services including birth registration, growth monitoring and immunization for children would be undertaken as part of activities marking the celebration.

The statement said the child friendly comic version of the Children's Act and a simplified version of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005(Act 694) would also be launched.

Other activities are interactions with vulnerable children, interactions between children and presidential candidates, fun games, launch of a national competition among Ghanaian children to design a logo for the Department of Children, donation of items to vulnerable children in institutions and bringing together over 2,000 children to share fun among themselves and thanksgiving services for the Ghanaian child at the Central Mosque and Police Church.

The United Nations declared 1979 as the International year of the child, which was referred to as the 1979 Declaration.

Within the mandate of the 1979 Declaration, the United Nations called upon countries, local authorities, civil society organisations and parents to recognise and strive for the protection of the rights of children.
The declaration also influenced the passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Ghana responded positively to the initiatives of the United Nations request in being the first country to ratify the UN CRC.
An Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) decree was passed on August 26, 1979 to establish the Ghana National Commission on Children and August 31 was adopted by Ghana as the National Children's Day.

In 1998, Parliament passed the children's Act (ACT 560) which provided a list of enforceable rights for the rights of the child and parental obligations, care and protection of children, establishment of the  rules and procedures for the adjudication of judicial and quasi-judicial matters affecting children, among other things.
The statement said since the passage of the Children's Act, the Ghana National Commission on Children and other public and private stakeholders had the legal backing to fight for the cause of children in Ghana.

It said the National Children's Day had the objective to create a platform for stakeholders to deliberate on pertinent issues concerning children and also strengthen partnership with child related agencies to address the concerns of children.

Source: GNA
Posted: 28/08/08

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