The Northern Regional Director of the Legal Aid Commission Lawyer Issah Mahmudu has sounded a caution to media practitioners who reveal the identities of child victims who suffer either physical or emotional abuse in the society.
He described this practice as “barbaric and unprofessional”.
Mr. Mahmudu gave the warning while facilitating a training program for selected police personnel drawn from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to build their capacity to promote and protect the rights of children thus to improve upon the child justice system in the country.
The Lawyer advised that if media persons will protect the identities of the affected child, it will not only protect the child against stigmatization in the society but it will as well maintain the confidence of the child in the society.
He gave the caution while facilitating a training program for selected police personnel drawn from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to build their capacity to promote and protect the rights of children thus to improve upon the child justice system in the country.
The training was organized by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) as part of its Justice for Children project, dubbed “Justice for Children: Bridging the gap between Legislation and Practice”, which is being implemented with support from the European Union.
It an undeniable fact that less attention has been given to juvenile justice administration in Ghana. Juvenile justice administration has seen little changes, in policy and the practical realization of human rights of the young offender. This has been the case since colonial British administration through the turbulent military regimes in the 1970s and 1980s, up to these days of multiparty democracy.
One thing that is lacking in the exercising of the child justice system in Ghana is the limited knowledge acquainted by people who are to execute this system including the security services, traditional rulers among others.
Central to the LRC’s work are the campaigns and projects for the promotion and protection of human rights including the “child justice” project through innovative community mobilization strategies, public interactive human rights education, lawyering techniques and research and advocacy at the local, national and international levels.
Source: http://www.rainbowradioonline.com/we-will-start-hunting-for-media-houses-that-shows-the-identities-of-child-victims-legal-aid-boss/
