Apart from the children, members of the parent teacher associations (PTAs) in some of the junior high and senior high schools were also sensitised on actions and inactions that violated the rights of children in both schools and homes.
Mr Stephen Okpoti-Mensah, the Eastern Regional Director of CHRAJ, said the campaign was to raise the awareness of children and all stakeholders including their parents and teachers on the fundamental human rights of the child.
He said the campaign was also to empower children to be able to know their rights as well as responsibilities and, therefore, be able to report violations and abuses of those rights to the appropriate quarters for redress.
Mr Okpoti-Mensah said educating children on their rights was not an affront to the norms and values of the Ghanaian society as some people perceived adding that the right to life, education, shelter, food and many others were non-negotiable under any circumstance.
He said the rise in child abuse cases often reported in the media such as parents or guardians pouring hot water and oils on children for stealing emphasised the fact that such incidences were on the rise and must be condemned.
Mr George Adzovie, the Regional Deputy Chief Investigator, said the campaign involved the PTAs because they wanted parents and teachers to know their rights in bringing up children in a peaceful and conducive environment.
He said abuse was different from training and that beating a child and leaving marks on him or her amounted to inflicting pain and formed typical example of abuse and violation of that child’s right hence could not be accepted.
By Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA
