By
Jesse Owusu Ampah, GNA
Accra, Dec. 09, GNA
– Madam Naana Aboagye Asare, President of Zonta Club International (Zonta) Tema
Chapter, has said twenty-one per cent of young girls in the country are in
child marriage.
She said there was
the need for drastic measures to be taken by stakeholders in the fight against
this menace that was destroying the potentials of the girl child.
Madam Asare made
these remarks at the unveiling of a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
billboard at the Ashaiman overpass.
The unveiling of the
billboard was done by the UNFPA in partnership with Zonta International Ghana.
She said the
statistics on child marriage in Ghana was alarming and needed to be nip in the
bud.
Mrs Selina Owusu,
UNFPA Ghana Gender Programmes Analyst, who led in the unveiling of the
billboard, said child marriage was a serious national canker that needed to be
tackled with all hands on deck.
She called on all
stakeholders and Ghanaians to join in the fight against child marriage and
gender-based violence in the country.
She said the
unveiling of the billboard was part of the commemoration of the 16-Day activism
adopted by the Fund in the fight against child marriage and gender-based abuse.
“We are creating the
awareness that violence in every form or shape has to be stopped. Violence
affects our development that is why UNFPA and ZONTA are unveiling this
billboard,” she said.
The 16-Day activism
against gender-based abuse and child marriage was a platform to create
awareness of gender-based abuse and fight the menace.
Mr Owusu said the
country needed to draw a strategic plan against child marriage and domestic
violence, adding that “we need action now as the talk is becoming too much; we
need a timeline, let’s say a five-year timeline to eradicate this menace.”
The 16-Day Activism
started on November 25, 2019 and would end on December 10, 2019.
Chief Inspector
Sabina Ama Blay, Regional Director of the Domestic Violence Victims Support
Unit (DOVVSU), called on persons who were domestically abused to report to the
institution and not keep it to themselves.
She commended the
UNFPA for the 16-Day activism initiative and called on all Ghanaians to support
the fight against child marriage and gender-based violence.
GNA
