6,027 Children Defiled In 5 Years
A total of 6,027 children in the country were defiled between 2002 to 2007 whilst 84 and 19 others were victims of incest and attempted defilement respectively.
In 2002 and 2003, 29 juveniles were found in the country's prisons with eight in police cells.
These were disclosed here last Thursday by Mr Sylvester Kyei Gyamfi, Head of Information, Research and Advocacy Division of the Department of Children (DOC) of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC), at a stakeholders workshop on Violence Against Children (VAC).
It was organised by the Department of Children and attended by participants drawn from the Ghana Education Service, Department of Social Welfare, the district assemblies, Department of Labour, Ghana Health Service, the media and NGOs among others.
The workshop, which formed part of the national campaign on VAC, was to create awareness of participants on the effects of violence with the view of stemming the tide.
Mr Gyamfi explained that even though violence against children occurres everywhere around the world, socio-cultural, economic and political factors can influence the kind of violence children face wherever they find themselves.
He stated that a United Nations study published in October 2006 showed that 218 million children worldwide were involved in child labour out of which 126 million were engaged in hazardous work.
He said the study, also revealed that 1.8 million children were involved in prostitution and pornography while 1.2 million, were victims of trafficking.
Mariama Yaya, the Upper East Regional Director of the department, underscored the importance of children and noted that a country's ability to develop fully was largely dependent on its ability to protect the rights of its children.
Consequently, she stressed the need for protection of the rights of the children of Ghana to enhance her attainment of the middle income status by the year 2015.
She called on all stakeholders to assist in the struggle to eradicate violence against children completely from the country to enable children to grow into responsible adults.