Child’s Rights condemns registration of minors

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06-08-08

THE Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr Bright Appiah, has condemned the reported use of children in the ongoing voters registration exercise.
He said such a practice would go a long way to deprive children of the rights they were supposed to enjoy under the Children’s Act and the government’s social intervention programmes.
Mr Appiah cited the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) where children under 18 years were supposed to register, adding that the Children’s Act defined a child as someone below the age of 18.
“Our checks have proven beyond reasonable doubt that children are being registered,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday.
A section of the media have reported that children were being used by some political parties to register in the voters registration exercise being organised by the Electoral Commission for those who have attained 18 years and above.
Mr Appiah said the NGO had sent people to some of the regions to capture the registration of minors, and that a full report, together with pictures to prove the authenticity of the report, would be made public next week.
After coming out with the report, he said, the NGO would seek legal advice on protecting the interest of children.
He cited a case last year in which a man who allegedly defiled a 15-year-old girl was able to argue as part of his defence, that the girl was a registered voter, and thus above 15 years.
“We want to avoid some of these things,” he said, adding that the court system treated the cases of children differently.
Mr Appiah, who questioned the rationale behind the use of children by political parties for their own agenda, said it had contradicted the country’s commitment to child protection.
He appealed to parents not to allow their children to be used in the voters registration exercise, since it was criminal, as it was a violation of the rights of the child.
He also charged politicians to desist from using minors in the registration exercise, adding that registration officials who doubted the age of anybody should put the person’s registration on hold until there was enough evidence to show that he/she was at least 18 years.