UNICEF Ghana urges more investment for most vulnerable children

Protecting children's rights is a critical key to building stronger, more stable societies, as conflicts, crises, and crushing poverty put millions of children's lives and future at risk, a senior UNICEF official said here on Monday.

In a statement to mark the Universal Children's Day, Susan Namondo Ngongi, UNICEF Ghana Representative, said the world needed to stop these violations by investing more in reaching the most vulnerable children or pay the price in slower growth, greater inequality, and less stability.

According to UNICEF, despite enormous progress realized for children since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989, the rights of millions of children are being violated everyday.

Since Ghana's ratification of the CRC on January 29, 1990, which sets out a basic, universal standard for a healthy, protected, decent childhood for every human being, the country has made significant progress in ensuring every child enjoys their right to childhood.

However, more needs to be done in Ghana as almost 1 in 3 children lives in poverty and 1.2 million live in households that cannot afford to pay for food, let alone other basic goods and services, according to data from UNICEF.

Globally, almost 385 million children live in extreme poverty and over a quarter of a billion school-aged children are not learning.

Namondo said every child has the right to grow up healthily and strongly, to be educated and protected, and to have a fair chance in life.

"Our commitment to child rights must be matched with action for every child, by bringing about a development for Ghana that includes even the poorest families," she said. Endit