The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has expressed concern over the rising number of online abuse and exploitation targeted at children in the country.

According to the Commission, despite the move made by government towards addressing the problem, there is the need to do more. It revealed that Ghana has seen a steady rise in the cases of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) or abuse assisted by technology.

The Commission indicated that a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children indicated that more than 13, 000 images and videos of child sexual abuse were accessed or uploaded from Ghana in 2020. It further noted that a more recent survey from the Cyber Security Authority in February 2022, revealed that 2, 331 out of 3, 600 schoolchildren interviewed had received sexual content online, with the same number of them having met a stranger they had first met online physically.

Contained in a statement issued by the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal, on June 16, 2023, to mark the International Day of the African Child, on the theme: ‘The Rights of the Child in the digital environment’, it highlighted the need for government to address the problems raised holistically.

“Although the Commission commends the state on the strengthening of Ghana’s legal and policy regime to address (OCSEA), the rising number of online abuse and exploitation targeted at children is worrisome. Thus, the Commission calls on government and relevant stakeholders including the ministry of gender, children and social protection, the ministry of communication and digitalization, the national cyber security authority and the data protection commission to streamline efforts towards the strengthening of the implementation of laws and policies geared towards making the internet safer for children in Ghana.”
Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice

Furthermore, the Commission urged government to consolidate the capacity of the workforce of law enforcement agencies like the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to facilitate investigations and gather solid evidence to prosecute criminals towards combatting online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Additionally, CHRAJ entreated government to work towards the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 16.2, which is focused on protecting children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking and violence and to ratify the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Children below age 17 without ICT access

Meanwhile, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has disclosed that a staggering 2.6 million schoolchildren between ages 6 and 17 are without access to ICT tools and devices in Ghana.

Per a survey conducted by the Statistical Service between April to June 2021, it found that nationally, 2.6 million children 6 to 17 years that were currently attending school did not use an ICT device in the three months preceding Census Night (April to June 2021).

Additionally, it explained that over a third (35.2%) of children 6 to 17 years that were currently attending school did not use an ICT device compared to 30.1% of those that attended school in the past and 85.5 percent of children who have never attended school.

It further noted that more than half of children attending school in the Savannah (51.6%), North East (51.0%), and Oti (50.2%) regions did not use an ICT device within the three-month period.

With regard to internet penetration and access, the GSS survey remarked that 41.5% of schoolchildren had no access, with the Oti Region sitting on top of the ladder with 59.7% of the survey’s participants.

“Two in every five (41.5%) children attending school did not access the internet in the three-month period. The Oti Region (59.7%), which had the highest percentage, is one of eight regions that had more than half of children attending school not accessing the internet in the previous three months: North East (56.1%), Upper West (57.5%), Savannah (55.9%), Northern (53.1%), Bono East (52.7%), Upper East (52.5%) and Volta (50.5%).”
Ghana Statistical Service

Furthermore, the GSS stated that when comparing different age groups, the percentage of children currently attending school that did not use an ICT declined with age. As such, 41.1% of children 6 to 11 years, 38.2% of children 12 to 14 years, and 22.1% of children 15 to 17 years, who are currently attending school did not use an ICT device in the three months preceding Census Night.

The survey was conducted as part of International Day of the African Child which is commemorated annually.