Para-legals Trained In Child Protection Strategies

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC), a Non-Governmental NGO has organized a day’s training programme in Sunyani for para-legals engaged in protecting the fundamental human rights of children.

Captioned “Justice for Children”, the training programme was aimed at equipping the para-legals with a deeper understanding of the legal framework that enables them to effectively prevent and protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation as well as ensure effective coordination between the child, family welfare system and juvenile justice system at all levels.

Besides, the programme served as a guide for participants on how to interact with all children within the child and family welfare system and the juvenile justice system, including, but not limited to, children who are victims of crime, witnesses, alleged offenders, and other cases involving children.

A private legal practitioner, Clarke Noyoru took the participants through Ghana’s legal system vis-à-vis legal aid/services provided, responsibilities of State agencies whose activities have direct bearing on children, Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms – arbitration, mediation and negotiation.

He encouraged the participants to make adequate consultations with their colleagues when dealing with cases before them.

One of participants, Marian Kusi-Aboraa who is a staff of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) in an interview described the training programme as “very informative and educative.”

“As I go out, I believe I’m now equipped with more knowledge when it comes to Justice for Children and I’ll not keep the information to myself alone but to share it with my colleague workers”, she said.

Another participant, Enoch Adomah, a teacher at the Dumasua R/C JHS said the programme had enlightened him on the various laws which seek to protect the rights of children, adding that he had had a better understanding of child-related issues.

He advised parents and guardians to take good care of their children so that they could become responsible adults in future.

An Official of LRC, Enoch Jangre explained that the training programme was part of a three year project which is being implemented in 55 districts across the country including Techiman, Wenchi, Berekum, Tano North and Sunyani.

The project, he further explained, is funded by the Europe and is aimed primarily at bridging the gap between legislation and practice in relation to child protection and also hopes to strengthen capacities within the Juvenile Justice System, and ensure that the rights of children in conflict and/or in contact with the law are protected.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a non-governmental organization with significant community-based grassroots initiatives. Its core mission is to develop human rights within communities where it works to ensure social progress and development using law, justice, development and good governance.

In addition to local human rights capacity building, the LRC strives to develop human rights capacity in national policy-making institutions. The LRC works to link community concerns to these institutions to ensure that less privileged populations are considered in decisions made at a national and regional level.

The main goals and activities of the LRC include Building human rights within communities, Influencing national and local policy institutions and Bridging community concerns with national policy decision-making.