Bright Appiah
CHILD RIGHTS International (CRI) has condemned and described as dangerous the practice where the faces of children who suffer ill treatments and abuses are videoed and publicly broadcasted.
This follows the viral video of an 11-year-old student whose father allegedly picked her from school and took her to a traditional herbalist for money rituals.
The said video was taken and shared on social media by the herbalist whose intention was to dispute the perception that all herbalists engage in money rituals.
The video started circulating in the media last Friday, and has so far garnered viewership of more than 500,000 people on Facebook only.
In the video, the young girl was seen with a sad countenance and appeared lost, not knowing what was happening.
CRI Fumes
The statement issued and signed by the Executive Director of CRI, Bright Appiah, said the act of exposing the faces of children “is becoming widespread in a society where children who form a major core of the vulnerable groups are exposed to all forms of abuses, particularly, psychological instability. These children ought to be protected and yet we forget that in our bid to right the wrongs and expose the rots in the society.”
He said most children, after being exposed to this form of publicity, begin to develop low self-esteem and all forms of humiliations.
Most of them, Mr. Appiah said, “are unable to recover because their faces will forever be stored on the internet.”
Apart from the law that frowns on such behaviour, Mr. Appiah said it is distasteful and against the fundamental human rights of children enshrined in the constitution.
“We should protect children at all cost, no matter the gravity of the situation,” he said.
Regarding the video, Mr. Appiah said it was totally out of order for the traditional herbalist to subject the child to emotional attack, especially, when he told the student her father brought her for money rituals.
“How could you say this to an 11-year-old? How do you expect her to process that information,” he asked.
Mr. Appiah said although the herbalist might have a good reason for taking the video, it was purely unacceptable to rope the school girl into the whole episode.
Strong Measures
Outlining some of the measures to combat the situation, Mr. Appiah stressed the need to strengthen the parental policy in the country.
He said parents must be held accountable for what happens to their children, adding that the state must not be lenient with child abusers.
Additionally, Mr. Appiah said security agencies must be empowered and properly trained to respect the dignity of children, especially, when making announcements relating to issues of child welfare.
He also called for a proper school structure where the school environment would be protected to avoid anybody walking in to pick a child.
No Leniency
Mr. Appiah called on the police not to treat the case with soft hands, but ensure full investigations are conducted, adding that the father of the teenager must be made to face the full rigours of the law if found guilty.