Vietnam pledges active role in global child protection efforts

At the meeting,  Deputy PM Tra welcomed Wijesekera on his first official working visit to Vietnam since taking office, and congratulated him on his appointment to this important regional position.

She emphasized that the half-century partnership between Vietnam and UNICEF has achieved historically significant results, demonstrating effective companionship and trust in protecting, caring for, educating, and developing children.

She said that the Vietnamese Party and State consider child care, education, and protection a strategy of special importance-the future of the nation-and view investing in children as the core foundation for achieving sustainable development goals.

The Deputy PM highlighted Vietnam's major achievements, including universalizing lower secondary education and striving toward universal upper secondary education, reducing child malnutrition to its lowest level,  fine-tuning policy frameworks, and substantially narrowing the development gap for vulnerable and ethnic minority children in mountainous areas.

In response, Wijesekera noted that Vietnam was his first choice to visit in his new position. He highly appreciated Vietnam as the first country in Asia to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990, commending its strong political commitment and prudent, sustainable investments over decades.

These efforts have yielded breakthrough progress in reducing child mortality and improving nutrition, healthcare, education, and child protection, offering valuable experience for other countries in the region.

Wijesekera stated that UNICEF and Vietnamese partners have been working to build the new Country Programme of Cooperation, affirming UNICEF's commitment to supporting Vietnam's development vision on its solid foundation.

He outlined priority cooperation areas for the coming period, including expanding livelihood, employment, and skill development opportunities for youth leaving the education system; joining hands on climate change solutions; improving public financial management for child investments without burdening public debt; and especially boosting cooperation in digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to advance child development and protect children online.

Acknowledging these strategic recommendations, Tra shared that despite major achievements, Vietnam still faces notable challenges. The country currently has nearly 25 million children, with ethnic minorities making up 18.3%, multidimensionally poor children accounting for 8.4%, and 2.3% living in special circumstances. To ensure fair and balanced development opportunities for every child, Vietnam will review and evaluate the implementation of Party resolutions on child-related social policies.

Looking toward the adoption of the Vietnam-UNICEF Country Programme for 2027-2031, Tra proposed three strategic focus areas. Regarding policy frameworks and experience sharing, UNICEF should leverage its global expertise to help Vietnam perfect its legal system for children, with new policies being multi-layered, flexible, and inclusive, shifting from passive support to proactive investment in the young generation.

On technology challenges, both sides need to actively utilize digital technologies and AI for education and health while proactively preventing risks and mitigating negative online impacts on children's mental health, nutrition, and cognitive development. Finally, regarding governance capacity, efforts should focus on strengthening and upskilling the workforce dedicated to child affairs from the central to provincial and commune levels following organizational restructuring, alongside building a synchronized database on children for effective management.

Tra reaffirmed Vietnam's commitment to being an active member in global child activities and expressed confidence that the trusted, effective partnership between Vietnam and UNICEF will continue to grow and flourish.

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