Solidarity message from Coalition for Street Connected Children on the commemoration of the International Day for Street Children

The Deputy Minister, Hon. Francisca Oteng-Mensah, our distinguished chairperson Dr. Afisah Zakaria, Chief Director of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Rev. Dr. Mrs. Comfort Asare, Director of Social Welfare, Country Representative of the Catholic Relief Services, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is yet another year and day and we are gathered to reflect on efforts and progress that have been made to address the situation of street connected children. As the world marks this year’s International Day for Street Children under the theme “Keeping street connected children safe”, it is another opportunity to ask ourselves how well we have fared in protecting the basic rights of children.

At last year’s IDSC commemoration, we were called to bow our heads in shame as duty bearers considering that such a significant proportion of our population lives under such precarious and unwholesome situations. We also urged ourselves to stand together and make it our collective responsibility to make Ghana a better place for all children including street children by taking strategic steps to address their situation.

The theme for this year “safety for all street connected children” should as a matter of fact be the primary theme that guides our everyday work with street children because safety is a “luxury” which is out of the reach of street children. First, lack of safety in the home have driven many a child into the streets. On the streets, the children are far from safe; from individual assaults by peers to high level police brutalities with no hope of finding justice, street connected children are anything but safe. The individual members of this coalition are confronted with harrowing stories of the dangers that street children encounter on a daily basis some of which are inflicted or perpetuated by the very people who have been assigned the responsibility of protecting them. On this day as we reflect on how to forge ahead in protecting these children and keeping them safe, we are reminded again that until every child is safe irrespective of where they find themselves, NO CHILD IS SAFE.

The Coalition for Street Connected Children (CSCC) was birthed four years ago following a study among NGOs who have been working with street children in Ghana. Our individual members comprising Street Girls Aid, Kinder Paradise, Chance for Children, Street Children Empowerment Foundation, Future of Africa, Rays of Hope, Safe Child Advocacy, Muslim Family and Counselling Services, Centre for Initiative Against Human Trafficking, and Street Social Workers Network have been working tirelessly to advance the cause and protect the rights of street children for years. Together as a coalition, we have and still remain committed to establishing strong relationships with like-minded organizations and national level structures of care to protect the rights of street children. Since its establishment, we are proud to say that have embarked on a number of activities including commemorating IDSC 2021 and collaborating with the Department of Social Welfare to mark the 2022 IDSC. We have since worked closely together with DSW on the 5-year strategic plan to address the situations of street connected children. The plan when fully implemented will make tremendous strides to enhance the lives of street connected children including keeping them safe from all harm in accordance with the conventions on the rights of the child (CRC), the Children’s ’Act 1998 (Act 560) and the Sustainable development goals. Our individual members continue to work hard for these children against all odds and it is our hope that as we reflect today, we also consider creating an enabling environment within which they can do more for these children.

We are very confident that the conversations held here today will spur us on to work together and assiduously all year round to make Ghana safe for all street children. Let us aim to leave “no child behind”

God bless our nation Ghana and continue to strengthen these collaborations to work in the best interest of all street connected children.