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General News on Thursday, April 18, 2019
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2019-04-18
Mrs Ahligah made this appeal at a round table organized by the CDD-Ghana
Ms. Love Grace Ahligah, deputy director of the Penitentiary Center for Girls, called on the government to rehabilitate the center, which caught fire in 2018 and jeopardizes the center's work.
The government should help make the center not only habitable, but also to provide a safe place for detainees, she said.
Ms. Ahligah made this appeal at a round table organized by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) -Ghana in Accra.
She explained that the fire that ravaged the Center on December 28 had destroyed two rooms, sunk, making it difficult for girls to stay.
Currently, the center, which was established in 1950 to reform the character, care and protect girls from 12 to 18 years in remand, is the only correctional center for girls in the country, she said.
She stated that there was no correctional center for the elderly and that, as a result, adults and older people had been admitted to the institution, which augurs badly for the reform process.
Ms. Ahligah, who was also in charge of the abused children's home and the Boys and Girls Detention Center, said seven girls were serving sentences of three months and three years.
The deputy director said he was unhappy with the lack of infirmary, psychologists, gates and dilapidated fence walls, lack of security, among others, and said that something had to be done on this subject.
She called for a reform of the house where girls were trained, especially in the catering, hairdressing and sewing industries.
The discussion, which brought together civil society organizations and other development partners, urged policymakers to adopt a similar proactive approach in the region, as they allocate funds to areas such as Education and agriculture.
For the participants, the lack of priority of successive governments had to change and it was necessary to close the gap of inequalities between the penitentiary center for men and that of women.
For them, the gap between law and practice in correctional centers should be bridged, adding that Ghana was one of the first countries to join international conventions but the last to implement it.
Some felt that the overcrowding of the girl relative to the boy was the reason why more boys were coming to the correctional center because they had not received special attention as girls.
Ms. Amanorbea Dodoo, head of health at the National Disability Council, said that rehabilitation centers were not adapted to the needs of people with disabilities and that they had to be taken into account, knowing that some centers were not suitable for the disabled. It would not succeed. professionals who could help meet their needs.
They called on the police to carry out their duties diligently so as not to contribute to the detention of minors in the care of adults.
Dr Franklin Oduro, Deputy Executive Director of the Ghana-CDD, charged the citizens with holding the government and its agencies accountable and asking them to provide resources to the centers rather than relying solely on development partners who were not there. not permanent.
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