Chief of Communications for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Eulett Ewart, has disclosed that girls are able to access justice more easily in the country.
Celebrating UNICEF’s 75 years of global presence and 40 years in Ghana today, December 13, 2021, she revealed that since its entrance into Ghana in “1982”, it became the first country in the world to ratify the conventions of the right of the child.
Eulett Ewart explained that the convention is the most ratified globally as it seeks to protect the rights of every child and “Ghana led the way” for the rest of the world to follow suit.
“Now, more girls are able to access justice more easily as a result of the establishment of ten new child-friendly gender-based violence schools. So, this now enables victims of violence to be able to go to court without having to see the alleged perpetrator of their abuses… Going to court is difficult anyway so enabling girls to have the opportunity to go to be able to present their case fairly is another area UNICEF is happy to explore to do”.
Eulett Ewart
Expressing her excitement over the milestone of UNICEF, Eulett Ewart indicated that the Fund has achieved a lot and transformed the lives of children by ensuring that “we are respecting and promoting” their rights and wellbeing.
“UNICEF is extremely excited about today. We are thoughtful as well… We realize that the job is not done. There are still many problems that face children, adolescents and young people, not just in Ghana but around the world. Many of them have shared challenges and so the strength of UNICEF is that it works at the global level and also nationally in order to be able to apply its levels of expertise, experiences of working in countries as well and working of course with key partners”.
Eulett Ewart
Impact of UNICEF in Ghana
Highlighting some of the achievements of UNICEF, Eulett Ewart revealed that Ghana was the first country in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility with UNICEF playing a significant role in that. She emphasized that her outfit provided the supply and logistics of the vaccine and enabling Ghana to receive that.
Following this, the Chief Communications officer of UNICEF intimated that it has been working closely with the government to seek to strengthen the health systems.
“But COVID is not the area we’ve been working on in recent year. We can also speak to the fact that with the support of UNICEF and other partners many girls are less at risk of anaemia. Anaemia was a real challenge for teenage girls aged between 10 and 19 [and] this really impacted their schooling as well because they’re not able to concentrate very well. So, working with the government a few years ago, UNICEF supported the establishment of the Girls Iron Folic Tablet Supplementation, otherwise known as GIFTS. As of this year, more than 2.5 million girls are receiving GIFTS as a result, they are now at less risk of having anaemia”.
Eulett Ewart
Commenting on what commemoration of the day will be like in Ghana, Eulett Ewart disclosed that the fund is aiming to have a “lovely moment” with various invited guests to view a photographic and art exhibition.
In terms of moving forward, she revealed that there are four key areas of priority across the globe for UNICEF which will continue to be a priority for them here in Ghana. They include addressing the learning crisis, seeking to ensure good health for children, particularly with focus on vaccination, immunization, water and also violence and mental wellbeing.
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