Children and young people have the same general human rights as adults and also specific rights that recognize their special needs.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights that must be realized for children to develop to their full potential.
The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. By recognizing children’s rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.
The Convention also recognizes the fundamental human dignity of all children and the urgency of ensuring their well-being and development. It makes clear the idea that a basic quality of life should be the right of all children, rather than a privilege enjoyed by a few.
Children must rely on adults for the nurture and guidance they need to grow towards independence. Such nurture is ideally found from adults in a child’s family.
However, in some situations, some children do not enjoy these rights. A situation of such nature is where missing children find themselves. In most cases, through no fault of theirs they are separated from their families and are unable to grow with the family.
The issue of missing children is not new but the rate at which children are get missing these days is a cause for worry. Investigations by Award Winning Journalist, Regina Asamoah, in the Ashaiman Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has revealed that almost on a daily basis, a child is reported in the municipality.
Ashaiman is a large town with an estimated population of some hundred thousand up to over one million inhabitants according to World Gazetter.
The issue of missing children in Ashaiman dates back to several years; however, in recent times, the spate at which children are getting missing in Ashaiman is alarming.
The documentary reveals where over 30 missing children have been kept awaiting to be reunited with their families so they get to enjoy their human rights of living and growing in an environment full of love, care, dignity and comfort. With some missing since 2007, this documentary seeks to connect these children to their families. It addresses the many mindboggling questions of how they got missing? Where they got missing? How come they ended up where they are?
This is in furtherance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 39 on the Child’s right to recovery and reintegration and Article 5 on Family Guidance as Children Develop.
‘Missing Children’ premieres on Saturday, 22nd May, 2021 at 7:30pm on Atinka TV. It will be streamed live on Facebook on Atinka TV Ghana
Regina Asamoah is a Mentee under the “Mobilizing Media to Fighting COVID-19” project being implemented by the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com|Regina Asamoah| [email protected]
