The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) is working with its partners to use this the celebration of this year's National Children's Day to strengthen action against all forms of abuses and injustices children face.

The partners include the Human Trafficking Secretariat, UNICEF, Plan Ghana, and World Vision International.

A statement from the MoGCSP, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, on Wednesday, explained that the National Children's Day was introduced on August 31, 1979, as a key activity of the then Ghana National Commission of Children (GNCC) towards creating greater awareness on eliminating all forms of abuses and facilitating the development of the child.

The focus for this year's celebration is to take stock of the achievements, challenges and chart the way forward of the Child and Family Welfare Policy (CFWP) for its improvement.

It is under the theme: "Five years of implementing the CFWP; the achievement, challenges and the way forward".

Activities would be carried out at district, regional and the national levels to encourage the public to take urgent actions to protect children from teenage pregnancy, human trafficking and other forms of abuses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, throughout the country.

The highlights include a community sensitisation programme on Friday, August 28, in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipal Assembly in the Central Region, on the need to end human trafficking, using tool; while a 'National Stakeholders' Forum on the issue would be held at the GNAT Hall, in Accra on August 31.

"The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection would like to use this opportunity to congratulate all stakeholders who have delivered on their role in the policy to ensure the strengthening of the child and family welfare system in the country," the statement said.

"We further urge all to continue to strive for a better Ghana for our children. Our children need protection now more than ever during this COVID-19 era, we must all endeavour to protect them by ensuring they adhere to the COVID-19 prevention protocols and ensure that, they continue to learn whilst at home."

Throwing light on some of the efforts made over the years to guarantee the rights of Ghanaian children, the Ministry said the GNCC, which was established to see to the general welfare and development of children, was in 2005 converted to the Department of Children by the GNCC Repeal Act, 2005 (Act 701).

The Commission was also charged to co-ordinate all essential services for children in the country to promote the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The Department is now responsible for implementing programmes and projects for the survival, protection, participation, and development of children through advocacy, and research.

They are also responsible for making input into policy formulation through networking and collaborating with stakeholders to improve the welfare and full integration of Children into the development process.