Introduction

We all imagine we know what childhood is and who children are.

After all, we can easily recognize ‘a child and know well enough

who amongst us are children’. Children are a potential human

resource and therefore if any nation is to have continuity and

progress, there is the need to preserve the future generation -

children. Despite the fact that Ghana is a signatory to the UN

Convention and the O.A.U, charter on the rights of the child and

other documents that protects children, children are subjected to

several forms of violations. In basic terms, childhood may be

seen as the biological or psychological phase of life somewhere

between infancy and adulthood. However, childhood is not that

simple or basic. Bueren (nd) correctly describes it as a very

complex social construct and suggests that any attempt to define

and demarcate it is inevitably artificial. It may be viewed as a

social institution; an actively negotiated set of social

relationships within which the early years of human life are

constituted. Whilst the immaturity of children is a biological

fact of life, the ways in which this immaturity is understood,

contextualized and made meaningful is a fact of culture, Bueren

(nd).

A child according to the African charter and the Convention of

the rights of the child Article 2 is every human being below the

age of 18 years and The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines

Child’s rights violation, as all forms of physical and or

emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent

treatment or commercial or other exploitation resulting in actual

or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or

dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility,

trust, or power.

This paper intends to identify some major sources of child rights

violations in Ghana and its effects. It will also take a look at

some innovative ways of dealing with these violations; there will

be a recommendation and a conclusion.

Some major sources of child rights violations and its effects

Children in Ghana are faced with lots of challenges and

violations, some major ones and their effects are as follows,

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse of children is a human rights violation affecting

all age groups within the childhood period globally. Prevalence

rate of sexual abuse has been difficult to determine for various

reasons; estimates have widely varied as a result of different

definitions of the term and the sensitive nature of the

phenomenon accompanied by shame and stigma experienced by victims

makes it disincentive to report its occurrence (Saewyc et al,

2003).

In Ghana, there is a recognized child sexual abuse problem in

schools (Brown et al, 2002). A study of public school children by

Brown (2002) found out that 11 percent of the children studied

had been victims of either rape or defilement. . A study

conducted in the central region of Ghana by Plan Ghana, an NGO

who is mostly interested in the affairs of children in Ghana,

especially in the rural areas revealed that at least 14% of girls

in basic schools had suffered sexual violence in one form or the

other.

Effects of Sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse has a host of negative physical and

psychological repercussions on the victim. These include

reproductive-health problems, anxiety, disordered eating

behaviors, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse and school

problems. Children sexually abused may be more likely to engage

in truancy and prostitution later in life, compounding their

long-term risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy

involvement (Bensley et al, 1999).

Child labour

Child labour in Ghana presents great challenges, for although the

Children’s Act provides ages for admission to employment,

proscribes labour which exploits the child by deprivation of

health, education or development, working children are a common

phenomenon Appiah (nd). The Ghana Statistical Service in 2003

revealed that 39 percent of children between 5 - 17 ages were

engaged in economic activity. Child labour in the urban areas

includes street hawking, portering of heavy loads, shoe shining,

supporting people with disability, cart pushing and working in

eating places. Rural child labour includes shepherding of cattle

and sheep, fishing, crop farming and stone quarrying. Other forms

of child labour exist which are hidden from the public eye such

as child domestic servitude, child prostitution, illegal mining,

drug peddling and pick-pocketing.

Effects of child labour

Child labour can be very hazardous to the development of the

child, it does not only cause damage to a child’s physical and

mental health but also keep him deprive of his basic rights to

education, development, and freedom. Child labour also deprives a

child of a proper childhood. He suffers physical and mental

torture. He becomes mentally and emotionally mature too fast

which is a dangerous sign. Child labour also creates and

perpetuates poverty; it condemns the child to a life of

unskilled, badly paid work.

Child domestic workers

The practice of children working in domestic settings as maids,

child minders and general house helps takes root from customary

servitude. It is one of the most common forms of child employment

and affects girls more than boys. What started as a form of

customary fosterage has now become commercialised. It has long

been considered as part of a socialisation process and is

accepted as training for young girls who will ultimately manage

their own homes. However, child domestic work has ceased to be a

family affair. Children work in households which are not their

own. One percent of children canvassed in the Child Labour Survey

were child domestic workers (Appiah, nd).

The issue of child domestic workers is very complex as it goes on

behind closed doors. Research commissioned by ILO/IPEC reveals

that the two regions with the greatest concentration of child

domestic workers are Ashanti and Greater-Accra Regions with

duration of the employment of children ranging between two and

ten years. Only 37 percent of those studied attended school,

mainly at the primary level. The push factors are parental

neglect due to large family size, the need for self preservation,

abduction and sale as well as occupation by birth, where children

are born into domestic servitude. Recruitment is diverse but

mostly engineered by parents, who constitute 51 of the total and

intermediaries constituting18 percent Appiah (nd). The children

do not have contracts and there are no working hours. Payment for

service is in kind. The practice itself is not institutionalized.

It is kept hidden and confined within the homes where the labour

is needed.

Effects of child domestic workers

This practice which is on the ascendency has a lot of effects on

the child as it denied these innocent children of their

education. Even when an employer does not prevent attendance,

the long working hours and requirements of the kind of jobs they

are engaged in makes it very difficult to keep up with their

studies. There are also most at times physical punishment,

limited support networks and poor health. Mostly, it is not

domestic work that is intrinsically harmful, but rather the

circumstances and conditions of work, which could be improved

through pragmatic regulatory measures.

Ritual enslavement - “Trokosi”

Trokosi is a customary practice prevalent in the south-eastern

coastal area of the country. It is a custom where virgins are

given to shrines to serve fetish priests and priestesses in

reparation for crimes committed by a family member. The practice

violates the Human Rights of the person since Trokosi girls do

not have formal education, are stripped of their freedom,

condemned to life-long poverty and work virtually as slaves. The

Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) as amended in 1998 creates

the offence of ritual enslavement and criminalizes any form of

ritual or customary servitude or any form of forced labour

relating to a customary ritual.

Effects of ritual enslavement — “Trokosi”

Trokosi is a very old tradition which must be entirely wiped out

from the system since its effects are very hazardous and

numerous. This practice denies these innocent girls of their

basic rights to education, healthcare and sometimes food. These

girls are mostly turn into sex machines by their masters and

other workers at the shrine at a very tender age thereby making

them become pregnant at a very tender age. Children of trokosi

receive no paternal care from the priest and therefore have a

difficult time living in good health or living at all. Most of

the victims also suffer physically and mentally because of the

trauma they go through at the shrine.

Child trafficking

Trafficking occurs internally and across borders. The elements of

child trafficking are the conclusion of a transaction, the

handing over of a person to a third party with or without a fee

for the purpose of exploitation (Appiah, nd). The intervention of

an intermediary is a common factor and the motive is to exploit.

The majority of persons trafficked within the country are

children, particularly girls between the ages of 7-16 years who

come from northern parts of the country. Boys aged 10-17 years

are lured to the mining and coastal areas to engage in illegal

mining and to become fisher children (Appiah, nd). Methods of

acquiring children include abduction, outright sale, bonded

placement, deceit of parents or guardians and coercion.

Effects of child trafficking

Trafficking of migrant children has unquestionably affected

individual children and their communities in various immediate

and long term ways. It sometimes endangers the children’s lives.

The obvious impacts of child trafficking often mentioned are

deteriorating of their education, physical and mental

development. Moreover, the trafficked migrant children are

disempowered in many ways. They are in the foreign country with

foreign customs and foreign language. They are transported and

sold or deceived as bonded labour, treated like property, and

work under the slavery-like conditions. Whenever they feel

depressed, or suffering, or face difficulties, or are tortured,

commonly they have no one they can turn to as they tend to live

in isolated milieu. Even if they have a chance to seek help, they

often do not know where to go or what to do or whom to ask

because they are illegal migrants or do not know anybody in their

new environment (Urvashi, 2011). These children may end up

suffering from lack of self-esteem, emotional disturbance,

disorientation, and depression and are scared for life. They

sometimes develop deep psychological disorders that they struggle

with for the rest of their lives even if they have been rescued.

Psychological vulnerability hinders them from having a healthy

state of mind in the future (Urvashi, 2011).

Child Commercial sex workers

Children on the streets aged between 10-17 years often engage in

commercial sexual activity and the living conditions of street

children facilitate sexual exploitation. Studies have shown that

child prostitution is probably on the increase but because

identity is kept secret and activities are carried out in secret,

data are scarce on the subject. Thus there are no reliable

estimates of the number of children involved. Prostitution is

seen as lucrative work to top up income from other street

activities as no investment is required. There is lack of

institutional support and child commercial sex workers are often

the victims of trafficking. The fundamental causes of child

commercial sexual activity are economic deprivation and

irresponsible parenting. Streetism is an underlying cause which

leads to a lack of shelter for some children of poor parents and

facilitates the phenomenon. The lack of employable skills for

children and the lack of parental control, as well as peer

pressure exacerbate the problem (Appiah, nd).

Effects of child Commercial sex workers

Children involve in child commercial sex working usually become

psychological abused, traumatized, develop fear of being unsafe

or unprotected. They also tend to develop lack of trust in other

people and become resentful towards other people. They are also

very vulnerable to be affected with HIV/ AIDS, other sexually

transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Some of the

emotional health consequences of child commercial sex workers

include severe trauma, stress, depression and anxiety (Janice,

2012).

Corporal punishment and Physical abuse

The stereotyped attitude of society towards the chastisement of

children creates the belief that beating is acceptable and has

always been accepted. In a national study on violence against women

and children in Ghana, 61 percent of the respondents think child

beating is acceptable, 32 percent think it is sometimes acceptable,

and 8 percent think it is not acceptable (Appiah, nd). Physical

abuse include severe physical punishment, beating, slapping,

hitting or kicking, pushing, shaking or throwing, pinching or

biting.

Effects of corporal punishment and physical abuse

Corporal punishment teaches that violence is an appropriate

response to problems or frustrations with people and that can

lead to a cycle of violence and victimization in the child's

future relationships. Physical punishment is associated with

increased child aggression, antisocial behavior, lower

intellectual achievement, poorer quality of parent–child

relationships, mental health problems (such as depression), and

diminished moral internalization (Smith, 2006). Corporal

punishment and Physical abuse can also scare school children from

going to school and thereby end up becoming school dropouts.

Early marriage

Ghana has one of the highest child marriage prevalence rates in

the world. On average, one out of four girls will be married

before their 18th birthday. According to the Multiple Indicator

Cluster Survey (MICS 2011), about 27 per cent of women aged 20-24

were married or in a relationship before age 18.While child

marriage is common in Ghana, regional disparities are noticed in

the Upper East (39.2 per cent), followed by Western Region (36.7

per cent), Upper West (36.3 per cent), Central (31.2 per cent),

Ashanti (30.5 per cent), Volta (29.3 per cent), Brong Ahafo (29.1

per cent), Northern (27.4 per cent), Eastern (27.2 per cent), and

Greater Accra (12.2 per cent) (Appiah, nd).

Effects of early marriage

Early marriage denies a girl of her childhood, disrupts her

education, increases her risk of abuse and jeopardizes her

health. Child marriage increases a woman’s chance of developing a

psychiatric condition in her lifetime and also increases the

likelihood she will receive care for such a disorder (Kuehn,

2011). Previous research has linked such early marriages to a

higher risk of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections,

cervical cancer, unintended pregnancy, maternal death during

childbirth, and abortion; early marriage also is associated with

malnutrition among offspring (Kuehn, 2011).

Some innovative ways of dealing with child violations

The various international and regional documents which Ghana is a

signatory prohibits all the various child violations outlined

above. Authorities, organizations, each and everyone need to be

on the alert.

With regards to child abuse, laws on Child Sexual Abuse should be

strictly enforced. Parents should take proper care of their

children and provide their needs. Children, teachers and parents

should be educated on child sexual abuse and its effects. School

rules and regulations must be strictly enforced to protect

children from sexual abuse. Teachers who sexually abuse children

must be severely punished. Settlement of child sexual abuse cases

at home must be avoided for perpetrators to face the law.

Security and Lighting system in school environment should be

improved and victims of sexual abuse should be encouraged to

report cases at the appropriate quarters.

Also, the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694) seeks to prevent,

reduce and punish human trafficking as well as provide for

rehabilitation and re-integration of victims. Child trafficking

is commonly link to poverty, there is therefore the need to

empower women especially to be able to provide for the need of

their children. There is also the need to educate people on the

effects of child trafficking.

An abused child is likely to be under severe emotional stress and so

a trusted adult is needed by the child to help comfort the child and

great care should be taken not to damage that trust. When information

is offered in confidence, the trusted adult will need tact and

sensitivity in responding to the disclosure. The adults need to

reassure the child, and endeavor to retain his or her trust, while

explaining the need for action which will necessarily involve other

adults being informed. It is important to tell the child that

everything possible will be done to protect and support him/her, but

not to make promises that cannot be kept e.g. promising not to tell

anyone else. It is also important to deal with any allegation of

abuse or neglect in a sensitive and competent way through listening

to and facilitating the child to tell about the problem, rather than

interviewing the child about details of what happened.

With regards to corporal and physical abuse, there is the need by

governments, NGO and all stakeholders to educate teachers, parents,

and all guardians about other forms of punishments such the use of

negative reinforcements. The harmful effects of corporal and physical

abuse should be emphasized for them to see how dangerous it can be so

as to stop it.

Furthermore, child marriage can be prevented by educating parents

on the need to send their children especially the girl child who

are mostly victims of child marriage to school. The harmful

effects of these early marriages should be explained to parents

to stop giving their children out for marriage at such tender

ages.

Also, traditional priests into the Trokosi practice need to be

thoroughly educated on the harmful effects of this practice on

the girls at their end. Children in their possessions should be

counseled and their families educated in other to accept them

back to their homes.

With regards to Child domestic workers, it is clear that as

society develops and more women leave the home to work, the

demand for child domestic workers will increase. There is

therefore an urgent need for protective safety measures for the

children who are at risk in the home despite the legal framework.

Recommendations

Poverty reduction at household level

Most of the child violations are linked to poverty; programmes

aimed at alleviating household poverty in the districts should be

extended to cover many more households. There should be rapid

implementation of the LEAP programme to cover households that are

distressed to allow parents earn income and provide the basic

needs of their children in order to protect vulnerable children

from most of these violations.

Sensitization of Children and Adults on Sexual Abuse.

Child sexual abuse is a problem that needs a preventive approach

to address. Public awareness of child sexual abuse must be

intensified through the media for the general public to know

about child sexual abuse and its effects on the development of

children. There should be advocacy campaigns for institutions

mandated to deal with child abuse and for that matter, sexual

abuse to play their roles effectively. Programmes to sensitize

children and adults about child rights and sex education in

general should also be designed and introduce in the districts.

Sensitization programmes for children should provide them with

the necessary information and the basic skills necessary for

their safety and well being.

Policy Implementation

School rules and regulations, Teachers code of conduct, District

bye laws and National laws on child sexual abuse, child labour,

child domestic workers, child trafficking, child commercial sex

workers and all other child violations should be enforced by

relevant authorities in collaboration with the local communities.

Strengthening of Institutions at District Level

Parents, community opinion leaders and institutions such as

Police, District Assembly, Health workers, Teachers etc.

identified as first point of contact when a child is violated

should be trained on how to identify and handle such forms of

child violation cases. They should know cases that fall under

their domain of work and those that should be referred to

appropriate agencies to be addressed effectively.

Conclusion

Children are supposed to be protected by parents, caretakers,

teachers and the elderly and not violated in any way. According

to Ohsako (1997) it is universally accepted that children are one

of the most vulnerable groups of humanity and, therefore, need

extra protection. The protection and promotion of the rights and

welfare of the Ghanaian child is in large part about influencing

the day-to-day child-rearing practices of families. If the

intention of ensuring the best protection for each and every

Ghanaian boy or girl is to be achieved, the principles of the

African Children’s Charter must be translated into practice on

the ground. Even though much is being done in protecting the

child, much more is needed to be done so as to protect these

innocent children from all these violations and to give every

child a better future.

References

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Challenging The Myths Of

Violence Against Women And Children In Ghana.

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ancillary matters Director, legislative

drafting division, attorney general’s

department, Ministry of justice.

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Saewyc, E. M., Pettingell, S. and Lara L. Magee, L. L. (2003).

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and Girls Speaking Out and Providing

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June, 2013

Smith B. Anne (2006), The State of Research on the Effects of

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Issues Centre, University of Otago,

Dunedin.

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