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Mrs Joyce Larnyoh, Country Director of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP), a Non-Governmental Organization, has called on girls to report all forms of abuse to their parents or teachers.
She said it is when girls keep quiet over the abuses that it results in teenage pregnancies and appealed to teachers to look out for issues bordering girls in their schools.
Mrs Lanyoh was speaking at a forum organized by the ICDP in collaboration with Plan Ghana International, to mark the end of the 16th day of activism against domestic violence, at Koforidua Zongo.
She said in order for girls to have people to confide besides their parents and teachers, the ICDP under the Girls Advocacy alliance (GAA) has established Community Child Protection Teams (CCPT) in about 25 communities in New Juaben and Akuapem North to protect their rights.
Mr Kwabena Dartey, the Regional Director of the Department of Children, cautioned the CCPTs against intervening in rape, defilement and child marriages but rather report to the appropriate quarters such as the DOVSSU for immediate action.
He said rape and defilement are serious offences that should not be settled at the community level but at the courts to serve as a deterrent to others in the society.
Alhaji Suleiman Mohamed, Secretary to the Koforidua Zongo chiefs and member of the CCPT, thanked the organizers for the sensitization effort adding that CCPT would collaborate with the Zongo chiefs and opinion leaders to eliminate child marriages from their communities.
Source: GNA
