Protect your children against all forms of abuse- DOVVSU tells parents in the Northern region
The Northern Regional Coordinator of Domestic Violent and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana police service; ASP Emmanuel Holortu has urged parents and guardians to protect their children in all aspects of life, because children are the future of the country.
Speaking to Zaa news in Tamale, ASP Holortu explained that, child protection involves protecting children against abuses such as neglect, violence and exploitation by ensuring their survival and proper development.
He also bemoaned the way and manner some parents and guardians in the region take care of their children. The DOVVSU boss cited physical torture in the form of beating, caning and infliction of injuries, defilement, and rape among others as some of the inhuman treatments some parents and guardians meted out to their children.
He said as a result of these terrible punishments being meted out to children, some children run away from their homes and end up in the street begging for alms.
ASP Holortu stated that it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to take very good care of their children, stressing that it is unlawful for them to subject their children to all kinds of capital punishments.
According to him, punishments are given to parents who play negligence and abuse their children, but added that the police have no control over such verdicts.
The verdicts, he said, lie in the hands of the jurisdiction. He further stated that the society and the nation also have a great role to play with regard to child protection.
The society, he said, must be on the lookout to assist vulnerable children and must report to the police in case of any child abuse.
The nation takes up children and provides for them by giving them for adoption to responsible spouses and close family members. He also disclosed that some people in the north, most of the time, fail to protect their children because of poverty and tradition.
On the way forward to curb the menace and to protect children, ASP Holortu calls for constant education, advocacy and strict enforcement of the law.
