Madam Mariama Yahaya, Acting Director of the Department of Children said the lack of funds hampered the reporting process on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Ghana.

Madam Yahaya was speaking at the Regional Consultative Meeting with Children on Ghana's third, fourth and fifth Consolidated Report to the United Nation's Committee on the Rights of the Child at Wa.

She said the purpose of the meeting was to solicit the views of children on the implementation of the CRC to enable Ghana to compile the consolidated report to the UNCRC in 2012.

Madam Yahaya noted that the involvement of children in the process meant that Ghana upheld children's participation as stipulated by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

She therefore appealed to the government, NGOs and civil society organisations to come to the aid of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and for that matter the Department of Children with funds for them to ensure the effective implementation of the CRC.

Madam Florence Ayisi Quartey, an Official of the Department of Children in Accra took the participants, who were drawn from both Junior and Senior High Schools, through a presentation on the CRC.

She gave a brief background on the development of the children's rights from the universal declaration of human rights to the CRC and spoke on its structure, general principles as well as qualities that made it a unique instrument.

She said despite the unanimous ratification of the CRC, the realization of children's rights was still far from reality but added that a universally accepted code for the treatment of children was a major step forward.

Mr. Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, also an official of the Department of Children, delivered a presentation on the Status Report on the CRC implementation in Ghana.

The ten-chapter report touched on areas such as the general measures of implementation of the CRC, definition of the child, general principles and civil rights and freedoms.

Others were family environment and alternative care, basic health and welfare, education, leisure and cultural activities, special protection measures, as well as optional protocols to the CRC.

Mr. Israel Akrobortu, Acting Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Children said the lack of funds had made it very difficult for the Department to reach out to all parts of the Region to educate children and parents on the CRC as well as other laws like the Children's Act.

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