a situation where child rights issues not to be prioritized. The Committee is also concerned that the Ministry lacks clear mandate for coordinating inter-ministerial child rights and welfare related activities. The Committee is further concerned that the Department of Children is not greatly decentralized to reach district levels to ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of child rights issues in the Country. 6. The Committee; therefore, recommends that the mandate of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection should be examined to ensure it adequately promotes and protects the rights of children. The Committee also recommends that the Department of children is decentralized to all districts with a view of ensuring an effective implementation and monitoring of child rights programmes across the Country. B. Definition of a child 7. The Committee appreciates that the Children’s Act 1998 defines a child as any person below the age of 18. The Committee also notes the existence of various definitions of the child as it pertains to the age of sexual consent, the age a child can engage in labour, the minimum age for criminal responsibility and prohibition of child marriage. The Committee is also notes that despite a law on the age of alcohol consumption, children have easy access to alcoholic beverages. 8. In this regard, the Committee recommends that:  The State Party endeavours to enforce the application of the law on alcohol consumption by persons under 18 and develop a system to regulate children’s access to alcoholic beverages;  Considering the fact that 21% of girls in Ghana are still married before they are 18, but rates can be as high as 39% in the Northern part of the country, the Government should take measures on persons who marry children and undertake awareness raising campaigns throughout its territory on ending child marriage. In this regard, the Committee recommends for the Government to closely work with the AU Team on Ending Child Marriage;  Ensures that the Juvenile Justice Act applies to all persons under 18 as provided by the law;  The Committee also notes that the minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at the age of 12. In this regard, the Committee recommends for the Government to consider raising the age taking into consideration the emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of children at this age. 3