BODY TO ADDRESS SEXUAL HARASSMENT (PAGE 11)

THE Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region has established a nine-member body to address issues on the survival of children in view of the upsurge in sexual harassment.
The nine-member committee will champion the "Learn Without Fear Campaign" set in motion with the assistance of PLAN Ghana, a non- governmental organisation, to gradually eliminate the phenomenon.
The members, led by Mrs Bridget Dede Kumah, the Hohoe Municipal Director of Education, were introduced and swornin at the commemoration of this year’s African Union Day of the African Child at Hohoe.
The day was celebrated on the theme " Africa Fit for Children; Call for Accelerated Action Towards their Survival".
At the durbar to mark the day, Mr Eric Ayamba, the Volta Regional Officer of PLAN Ghana, said school children, were subjected to all forms of sexual harassment which negatively affected their education.
The harassment or sexual abuse of children, especially the girls is being condemned globally under the theme, “Stop Child Sexual Abuse Now, Let Kids be Kids".
Mr Ayamba regretted that most of these girls, compelled by poverty and lack of parental control, are lured into these forms of abuse leading to premature sex and teenage pregnancy.
He, therefore, called on all concerned in the municipality to join in the fight till the menace is uprooted from the area.
The Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Herman Condoberry, in his inaugural address said the day was set aside by the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now Africa Union (AU) in 1971 in memory of the children who lost their lives in Soweto, South Africa while protesting the inequality in standards of their education, compared to their white peers.
He noted that the right of children had been abused and relegated to the background or ignored in spite of the several legislature passed to that effect.
"The incessant flogging, inadequate and improper care given to our children has negative effect on their health, mental capacity and physical development", he noted.
He lamented the issue of child labour with estimated an 100 million girls engaged in it all over the world.
Mr Condoberry called on all to ensure that the children are given the needed support to enable them develop into responsible adults.
He promised the municipal assembly’s readiness to collaborate with the committee in all its efforts.