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The African Union (AU) Day of the African Child has been marked at Moree, in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District of the Central Region, with a renewed call on all to help end child and forced marriage now, and safeguard the future of these children.

The day which is commemorated every year on June 16 by member-states of the AU and its partners, is to recall the 1976 uprisings in Soweto, South Africa, when a protest by school children against Apartheid-inspired education, resulted in the killing of the unarmed young protesters by the police.

Addressing a durbar of traditional leaders, opinion leaders, Assembly members, parents and school children, Mr. Divine Opare, Central Regional Director of the Department of Children said, the day offered a great opportunity to focus on the rights of children on the African Continent

The theme for this year’s celebration was: Africa's Twenty-Five Years After Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa.”
But in Ghana, the theme was: “Ending Child Marriage in Ghana through Strengthening Family and Community Structures.”

Mr. Opare noted that though the main causes of early or forced marriages were complex, parents and guardians were the major contributory factor.

Other causes, he said, were gender inequality where women and girls often occupied lower status in society as a result of social and cultural tradition.

These beliefs and attitudes, he observed, denied them their rights, and stifled their ability to play equal roles in their homes and communities.

Additionally, girls were also pushed out of their homes into marriage as a relief, to end economic burdens, not to talk of the negative cultural practices, ignorance of the laws of the land, among others that fight against their fundamental rights.

Article 14 of the Children’s Act states that “No person shall force a child to be betrothed, to be the subject of a dowry transaction, or to be married,” and the minimum age of marriage of whatever kind shall be 18 years.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the top five nations with high child marriages in the world were Niger 75%, Chad 72%, Mali 71%, Bangladesh 64% and Guinea 63%.
Statistics also indicated that over 14 million girls were given out for marriage in the world who were under 18 years, with 1.66 million girls are given in marriage in a month and 38, 461 in a day.

In Ghana, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) undertaken in 2011, the prevalence rate was between 12 and 39%, meaning that one in every four women got married as a child; with 27% of women aged 20-29 years in Ghana got married before age 18.

Mr. Opare noted that such marriages affected the girls’ health, physiology, emotions and mental faculties and worst of all their dreams shatter because they would be unable to continue their education.

He, therefore, underscored the need to educate community members on the dangers of child-marriage, by creating awareness through the media, to sensitize all stakeholders on its consequences.

The Regional Director also called for the inclusion of Chiefs, Assembly members and opinion leaders in the formulation of bye-laws to stop and ban child and forced marriages in the traditional system.

Mr. Opare further urged the State, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies for the enforcement of laws that protects children, and also called for the establishment of Child Protection Committees.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) George Appiah-Sakyi, Regional Commander of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, said it was unfortunate that the actions of some adults prevented children from achieving their dreams

This, he indicated, were through defilement, rape, assault and irresponsible behaviour by miscreants, teachers, parents and guardians, and admonished all such people to desist from such violations, or face the full rigours of the law.

DSP Appiah-Sakyi advised the children to report any abuse in any form on them to their parents or guardians, or if in doubt rather report to the Police.

Nana Kweigya the Seventh, Chief Fisherman of Moree, encouraged all stakeholders to play their roles deservedly to ensure the total welfare of children.