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Madam Priscilla Yeli-oni, Gushegu Municipal Officer of the Pan- African Organization for Research and Protection of Violence on Women and Children (PAORP-VWC), an NGO, has advised parents and guardians to make common decisions and devise strategies to inculcate discipline in their children.

She said it was in the interest of parents to make decisions that would improve the welfare of their children, adding “This calls for collaborative efforts between fathers and mothers to put in place measures that will instill some level of discipline in the children."

She gave the advice at a workshop at Gushegu, organised by the PAORP-VWC for school stakeholders on some traditional practices such as child trafficking, forced and early marriages and to adopt measures to curb the practice in the Gushegu Municipality of the Northern Region.

The workshop, with funding support from Kinder Rechte Afrika (KiRA) a Germany-based NGO,
brought together officials from the Ghana Police Service, traditional and religious leaders, Department of Social Welfare, representatives of political parties, persons with disabilities amongst other interest groups.

Madam Yeli-oni said “The use of corporal punishment by parents to correct the child when he or she is wrong is not the only antidote to ensure they are disciplined. Parents must have cordial relationships with their children so that they can confidently voice out issues that affect their wellbeing."

Mr Mohammed Jafaru, Gushegu Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, who facilitated the workshop, noted that “Parents should consider the children as assets and invest in bringing them up to become responsible and disciplined in society.”

He advised parents against allowing girls under fostering to engage in petty trading and urged them to enroll children in school.

He proposed the establishment of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service at Gushegu to handle the increasing cases of abuse of women, children, and related issues in the municipality.

Ms Priscilla Akansah, a Police Officer in the Municipality, sharing her experience on challenges associated with dealing with child rights abuses, said: “Some politicians and parents sometimes throng the station to either demand the immediate release of offenders or withdrawal of criminal cases that are before the service to settle at home."

She expressed worry, saying the act affected the professional work of the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies and called for cooperation among stakeholders, politicians, religious and traditional authorities to join hands to make offenders face the law.