Prioritizing Online Safety to Protect Our Children- says EOCO Boss

Prioritizing Online Safety to Protect Our Children- says EOCO Boss. COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, Executive Director, Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), has urged parents to protect their children and make online safety a priority. 

The world was evolving at a pace with its technological advancement, and it was imperative for parents to set controls on Internet usage to avoid children being lure away from home.

COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah said this at the commemoration of the International Missing Children’s Day and fundraising event organised by Missing Children Ghana, on the theme: “Together for tomorrow; working towards a safe future for every child.”

She said the Internet provided a lot of positive information but had negatives, and all must build the confidence of children and encourage them to talk about any issues, no matter the gravity of the effect.

The EOCO Boss also called on parents and family members to teach their wards their house locations, house numbers, telephone numbers, and names of their parents.

She said, “If we can provide our children with this basic information, it will help the law enforcement agencies properly track missing children.”

COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah also did add that EOCO sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ghana Internet Safety, and the idea was to go to schools and train the children on how to be secure online.

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“It will help them identify suspected online fraudsters and persons with bad motives. Which is all part of the agenda against people going missing. It will go a long way to help them to avoid certain sites and avoid talking to certain people,” she said.

Madam Regina Asamoah, Founder, Missing Children Ghana, stress that International Missing Children’s Day which is May 25 every year, is commemorated to raise awareness of missing children, keep hope alive, and let their traumatized families know that an effort is being made to help bring their wards home.

“The issue of missing children is real; one missing child is one too many. Since we started work in May 2021, we have received over 700 reports (police extracts) and have been able to reunite over 300 children with their families from 2021 to 2024,” she said.

Madam Asamoah said about thousands of children across Ghana who are not orphans had been found in orphanages, adding that people could go to their website, www.missingchildrenghana.com and report a missing child.

She said the funds Missing Children Ghana raised at the event were to support an educational project, where their team of experts would visit schools to educate children on safety measures in the Greater Accra, Central, Eastern, and Volta Regions.

“The gap we have seen is that a lot of children don’t know the basic details about their families and about themselves. We are targeting GHS20,000 per region. The funds will cover the cost of training manuals, educational materials, and logistics,” the founder said.

The event brought together stakeholders like UNICEF, the Department of Social Welfare, Plan International Ghana, and other agencies that supported the Missing Children agenda.