Children's Rights in Ghana

Reality or Rhetoric?

Contributions by Albert Abane, Frank Owusu Acheampong, Michael Kwodwo Adjaloo, George Oppong Ampong, Lilian Ayete-Nyampong, Kathrin Blaufuss, George Clerk, Beatrice Akua Duncan, Kate Hampshire, Kate Kilpatrick, Peter Ohene Kyei, Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, Leah McMillan, Gina Porter, Afua Twum-Danso, Georgina T. Wood Edited by Robert Kwame Ame, DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga, Nana Araba Apt

Publication date:

22 February 2011

Length of book:

310 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

241x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739148006

This is the first book that examines Ghana's compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Ghana being the first country to ratify the Convention, it thus fills an important gap in the literature on Ghana. The book throws a searchlight on a wide range of rights issues including children's identity, violence against children and women, child exploitation and children in conflict with the law plus a host of other CRC related issues and further identifies and explains the main obstacles in the way of realizing children's rights in Ghana. A major strength of this book is that the contributors, Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians alike have vast experience in empirical research in Ghana and most importantly, come from diverse academic disciplines. Researchers, instructors, and students of Social Work, Sociology, Criminology Human Rights, Education and Law, are examples of a few academic disciplines that would find this book a welcome relief in their search for relevant and current data on children's issues in Ghana. It should also be of great interest to policy makers, human rights activists, Children's NGOs and international development partners interested in children's issues.

Foreword
Part I. Childhood and Identity
Chapter 1. Introduction: Confronting the Challenges: Optimizing Child Rights in Ghana
Chapter 2. Defining Childhood: A Historical Development Perspective
Chapter 3. Controversies in Paternity: Who Is a Child's Father under Ghanaian Law?
Chapter 4. Bridging the Child Rights Gap in a Refugee Context: Survival Strategies and Impact on Inter-generational Relations
Part II. Chidren in Dangerous Circumstances: Exploitation and Abuse
Chapter 5. Corporal Punishment in Ghana
Chapter 6. Child Labor in Ghana: Global Concern and Local Reality
Chapter 7. Children's Rights, Mobility, and Transport in Ghana: Access to Education and Health Services
Part III. Policies, Laws, and Programs
Chapter 8. Children's Rights, Controversial Traditional Practices, and the Trokosi System: A Critical Socio-legal Perspective
Chapter 9. Assessing the Progress of the 1998 Children's Act of Ghana:Achievements, Opportunities, and Challenges of the FirstTen Years
Chapter 10. Situating CRC Implementation Processes in the Local Contextsof Correctional Institutions for Children in Conflict with the Law in Ghana
Chapter 11. Ghana's Education System: Where Rhetoric Meets Reform
Chapter 12. Conclusion: The Future of Children's Rights in Ghana

Children's Rights in Ghana is a very valuable and compelling addition to the growing evidence of gaps between the promise of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its reality in practice. With its cogent organization, clear writing, and comprehensive coverage, the chapters provide a useful yardstick against which progress readily can be assessed.