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Tag: Child Rights International

  • Child Rights International’s suit against govt over child streetism squashed 

    Child Rights International’s suit against govt over child streetism squashed 

    The Supreme Court has rendered its verdict in response to an action brought forth by Child Rights International (CRI), a children’s advocacy group, against the government regarding the issue of Child Streetism. In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, February 28, the panel of seven, chaired by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, dismissed the suit on grounds of improper invocation of the court’s jurisdiction.

    Justice Torkornoo, speaking on behalf of the panel, stated, “The Plaintiff’s (Child Rights International) action is dismissed for failing to properly invoke the jurisdiction of this Court.” The panel emphasized the necessity for proper legal procedures to be followed, with Justice Gabriel Pwamang adding, “Even though the Plaintiff had genuine grievances, your lawyers must come properly.”

    The full judgment of the panel, which also includes Justice Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Mariama Owusu, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Justice Lovelace Avril Johnson, and Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, is ready according to reports from EIB Network Legal Affairs Correspondent Murtala Inusah.

    Child Rights International had filed the suit seeking to enforce children’s rights to education and address the threat posed by child streetism. The suit aimed to compel the government to fulfill its obligations under the 1992 Constitution, particularly in protecting children from moral hazards and ensuring their access to education.

    Among the demands made by CRI in its suit were declarations that the government’s failure to protect children against moral hazards and the current conditions of children living on the streets are inconsistent with the Constitution. Additionally, they sought orders directing the government to define penalties for families neglecting children’s rights, improve healthcare services for poor children on the streets, and address economic exploitation of children.

    Despite the dismissal of the suit, the issue of child streetism remains a pressing concern in Ghana, prompting calls for concerted efforts from both the government and civil society to address the underlying causes and protect the rights of vulnerable children.

  • Supreme Court ‘snubs’ CRI; rules in favor of teachers in suit over strikes

    Supreme Court ‘snubs’ CRI; rules in favor of teachers in suit over strikes

    The Supreme Court of Ghana has dismissed a suit challenging the right of teacher unions to embark on strike.

    The legal battle ensued when Child Rights International, a civil society group advocating for children’s rights, took Ghana’s three prominent teacher unions—like those GNAT, NAGRAT, and CCT – to the Supreme Court over their strike actions.

    Claiming the strikes infringed on children’s rights, the organization sought a declaration that the strikes were unconstitutional.

    During the court proceedings on February 6, 2024, counsel for the plaintiff argued that while teachers have the right to unionize, striking is a limitation on this right, citing Article 28(4) of the Constitution.

    However according to a report by Asaaseradioonline.com, the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction with this argument, emphasizing the importance of strikes in democracy and questioning the consistency of the plaintiff’s position.

    Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of the teachers, affirming their right to unionize and strike. 

    The suit was deemed mischievous and incompetent, leading to its withdrawal by counsel, who was subsequently ordered to pay GHC40,000 in costs shared among the parties involved. 

  • Street children’s rights suit to be decided on November 22

    Street children’s rights suit to be decided on November 22

    A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court is expected to deliver a judgment on November 22 regarding the constitutionality and legality of the presence and plight of street children.

    The suit was filed by Child Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organization, contending that streetism violates various articles of the 1992 Constitution, including those protecting children’s rights to education, health, human dignity, and social and economic rights.

    Streetism refers to children living and working on the streets due to a lack of family ties or being caught in manipulative relationships where guardians exploit them for financial support through street-related activities.

    CRI seeks several declarations and reliefs from the court, including a declaration that the Government of Ghana has breached constitutional articles by not taking prompt action to protect children from engaging in harmful work and ensuring access to healthcare and education.

    The organization also requests the government to define penalties for child exploitation, improve healthcare provisions, establish procedures for free medical services, implement mechanisms to enforce education guarantees, and submit a plan of action outlining steps, strategies, and targets for compliance with the court’s orders.

    Furthermore, CRI calls for periodic reporting to the court on progress made in adhering to the orders, with an initial report due two years after the final judgment and subsequent reports every six months until the completion of the three-year plan of action.

  • Implement measures to stop begging on the streets – NGO to govt

    Implement measures to stop begging on the streets – NGO to govt

    A non-governmental organization (NGO), Child Rights International has stressed the necessity for the government to take a multidisciplinary approach to the problem of street children begging.

    The organization believes the government ought to consider several factors including control mechanisms, social welfare, and protecting the rights of children in dealing with the menace.

    The call comes on the back of the advice by the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection to the public to desist from giving cash to child beggars.

    The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu at a press conference appealed to the public, especially residents of cities to restrain from giving cash to children engaging in begging, sometimes under dangerous circumstances on the streets.

    “We have done a lot to take them from the streets, but somehow they find themselves back, we even repatriated 400 of them and engaged the embassies here, but they find ways to come back, so we have to stop giving money to minors on the streets because as adults I don’t see why we should be giving monies to six-year-olds on the streets,” Ms. Abudu said.

    She said the government did not have the resources to repatriate the child beggars presently on the streets but would encourage the public to shun them and desist from giving them cash to help force them out of the streets.

    “If you don’t give them today and I don’t give them tomorrow, next week they will be forced to leave the streets and move away,” the minister added.

    But in an interview with Citi News, the Executive Director for Child Rights International, Bright Appiah added that there must be a policy to make begging on the streets uncomfortable.

    “There are other factors that are more dominant than even the resources that people give. If we are able to do that then it will add to the call that this government has made in respect to people not giving monies to beggars on the street.

    “The major issue that we have to deal with has to do with making the environment uncomfortable for people to think that they can be on the street to beg.”

  • Child Rights International commends President for pardoning dismissed students  

    Child Rights International commends President for pardoning dismissed students  

    Executive Director, Child Rights International (CRI) Mr Bright Appiah, an NGO has commended President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo for pardoning eight female students of the Chiana Senior High School (SHS). 

    Mr Appiah said the President’s intervention was timely and appropriate in ensuring that the students were not denied their rights to education. 

    On Friday, November 11, 2022, a video of the second year female students of Chiana SHS in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region using vulgar language towards the President went viral on social media. 

    As a result, a Committee was established by the Governing Board of Chiana SHS to investigate the alleged viral video. 

    After series of investigations, the Committee’s report, copied to the leadership of the Ghana Education Service (GES) at the Headquarters, recommended the dismissal of the students. 

    In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Appiah said the intervention of the President addressed two major issues, which were the nation’s investment in education and its policy environment. 

    ‘Having free education to the Secondary School level, we have made investment in the lives of these children, and I do not think that the father of the nation will allow that investment to go waste,’’ he stated. 

    The Executive Director underscored the need for a framework for an alternative system of punishment that would lead to the reformation of children rather than victimising them, who would in turn influence other children negatively. 

    He condemned the act of the students and advised children to behave responsibly and be morally upright to be good citizens of the nation as they exercise their rights in a manner that conformed to the State’s principle on the development of children. 

    Mr Appiah noted that some parents had failed in bringing their children to a level that was expected, hence, the need for a strengthened state machinery to deal with some of the fallout issues that would ensure that before a child completed the school system, some positive changes would have been made. 

    ‘‘So if children are behaving in that manner, we need to condemn it and make sure that we put them in a place that will let them be more responsible.   

    “So, as much as we condemn the act of the children, we think that the policy environment must also be strict enough to regulate the behavior of children provided it does not violate their fundamental human rights,’’ he added. 

    OccupyGhana, a pressure group, in a statement to the GNA noted that some suspension with mandatory counseling for the affected students would be more effective than dismissal. 

    Meanwhile, some members of the public who praised the President’s intervention called for severe punishments for the students. 

    Madam Janet Mensah, a parent acknowledged that the children did not do the right thing and appealed to the GES to consider making them repeat their class to serve as a deterrent to others. 

    Mr Emmanuel Kankam, a final year student of the Koforidua Senior High Technical School, urged students to desist from such acts since it was morally bad. 

  • GH¢5,000 added to GH¢12,000 bounty on man captured on video beating a baby mercilessly

    The bounty placed on a man wanted for assaulting a baby has been raised to some GH¢17,000.

    This comes after the addition of some GH¢ 5,000 to the GHC12,000 announced by the Ghana Police Service and Child Right International. The additional GH¢5000 has been announced by Givers Herbal Company Limited.

    “The video is very disheartening to even watch. We are even compelled to question if the child is his own. But even if the child is not his, that does not permit him to treat a baby like that. We find it worrying because this is not the first time we are seeing something like this. There was a similar video of a woman abusing a baby and we did not see how this issue ended. So we at Givers have also taken an interest and our CEO, Dr Derek Danso has also thought it wise to contribute to the search for the suspect. So whoever has information leading to his arrest will be given an additional GHC5,000 in cash,” Public Relations Officer of the Company, Richard Sarkodie told Accra FM in an interview.

    The Ghana Police Service on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, announced a bounty of GHC2,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the man who was captured in a viral video whipping a young baby.

    Subsequently, children advocacy non-governmental organisation, Child Rights International also announced an additional GHC10,000 reward for any such information.

  • ‘Ghanaian children are so timid’ – Executive Director of Child Rights International

    Executive Director of Child Rights International, Bright Appiah has asked parents to build an intimate relationship with their children.

    Addressing issues affecting the youth, Bright Appiah noted that one of the major hindrances to the development of children in Ghana is timidity.

    Speaking on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’, he explained that a lot of parents do not converse with their children, hence limiting them when it comes to developing their capabilities.

    To him, most children have lost their bearing in life because of the lack of proper parental guidance.

    “In this country, we don’t converse with our children . . . Ghanaians are so timid to the extent that if they know the truth, they don’t want to say it. Some of them are so smart but, because we don’t have that engagement with them, we limit them in terms of what they can do and then we begin to also profess what we feel that they should do and all that,” he told Kwami Sefa Kayi.

    Bright Appiah held that “parents must engage our children”.

    He believed this is a panacea for the moral decay in youth and societal decadence.

    Source: peacefmonline.com

  • Child Right International hints at going after celebrities who have social media pages for their children

    Bright Appiah, Executive Director of Child Rights International has hinted that very soon, his organization will be going after celebrities who have opened social media pages for their children and using that for commercial purposes.

    “Very soon, they will hear from us on some actions we are going to take in respect to how people are engaging their children on Social Media, for commercial purposes, for advertisements, for all kinds of things.

    “If the matter comes up before a competent court of jurisdiction, they can go and say all manner of things before the judge,” Bright Appiah said on Okay FM on Monday, April 19, 2021.

    He advised that it will be in the best interest of the celebrities to pull all social media pages of their children who are under the age of 18, “otherwise there is an action that will follow very soon”.

    The action of Child Rights International follows the incarceration of Akuapem Poloo into a 90-days jail term.

    The actress pleaded guilty to the publication of obscene material contrary to the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), engaging in domestic violence, namely a conduct that, in any way, undermined another person’s privacy or integrity, contrary to Section 1(d) (iii) and 3(2) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act732), and engaging in domestic violence, namely conduct that, in any way, detracted or was likely to detract from another person’s dignity and worth as a human being, contrary to Act 732.

    Akuapem Poloo was sentenced on her own plea, 90 days for each count, to run concurrently.

    She had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed her plea to guilty last Tuesday.

    The court, however, deferred the sentencing to Friday, April 16, to allow for a pregnancy test to be conducted on the convict in compliance with section 313A (1) of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act30).

    The pregnancy test came out negative.

    Court’s consideration

    In passing sentence, the judge said she considered all the mitigating factors.

    Mrs Cann, however, expressed concern about consistent abuse of children in the country, and the incessant rise in publication of obscene images.

    Justifying a custodial sentence, she held that Brown did not only infringe on the rights of the child with the publication, but it morally corrupted those who saw the post and also cost the pride and dignity of the country as a whole.

    “The court is bothered with posting nude photos on social media. There is no doubt that apart from the canker of rape, defilement, physical assault, the publication of obscene materials is on the increase.

    “There is, therefore, the need to uphold our societal values and deal with this canker. The best interest of the child shall be the primary concern of the court,” Ms Cann said.

    She asked: “Did she ask for the permission of the child before posting the said picture? Did she respect the child’s rights?”

    Providing an answer to the questions, the judge said: “No she did not.”

    The judge further noted that Akuapem Poloo had a basic responsibility for the development of her son but rather infringed on her son’s best interest, right to privacy and dignity.

    Mrs Cann added that the sentencing of Brown must not only be punitive but must serve as a deterrent to society.

    “A custodial sentence will serve as a deterrent,” the presiding judge held.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.com