The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) today 11th October 2019 joins the world to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child on the theme: “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable”. This International Day of the Girl Child aims to address the needs and challenges girls all over the world face and promotes girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights. It is also to celebrate all the achievements by, with and for girls. This celebration has been in existence since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and passage of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.
However, most commitments made to girls are left unfulfilled. Every year, 12 million girls below age 18 are married; 130 million girls worldwide are still school drop outs; and approximately 15 million adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experience forced sex. (UN Women 2019). On this note, NCCE entreats all to uphold the commitments to protect and empower girls and create a better future for all. The Commission states in no uncertain terms that practices such as child early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation as well as demand for sexual favours from defenceless girls must be stopped.
The Commission urges the Government and citizens to continue to work towards helping girls in Ghana to have access to quality education, good nutrition, equal access to legal rights and provision of sound health care as embedded in Article 28(1b) of the 1992 constitution which states that, “Every child has the right to the same measure of special care, assistance and maintenance as is necessary for its development from its natural parents, except where those parents have effectively surrendered their rights and responsibilities in respect of the child in accordance with law;”
The destiny of the girl child is indeed unscripted and cannot be predicted. Let’s empower our girl child to break barriers and achieve the unattainable
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