UN Committee applauds Vietnamese efforts to promote children’s rights

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha led the Vietnamese delegation to engage in a dialogue on September 12 to September 13 in Geneva, Switzerland, with CRC members to discuss the country’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The dialogue was held within the framework of the CRC’s 91st session on the basis of the nation’s submission of its fifth and sixth periodic country reports and a report answering related questions posed by the committee.

In a recent interview conducted in Geneva, Deputy Minister Ha said that during the 91st session, the CRC highly valued thorough Vietnamese preparations for these reports and welcomed its achievements in the building of laws and policies, as well as the measures taken by it related to children’s rights.

After the session, the nation will have four to five years to carry out the committee’s recommendations, she said, adding that the Ministry will work alongside relevant ministries and sectors to analyse the recommendations put forward and to build an action programme which will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

Dang Hoa Nam, director of the Department of Child Protection and Care, said that the CRC appreciated Vietnamese progress in building and amending laws, especially the 2016 Children Law, and the Government's efforts to combine economic development with social and sustainable development. The CRC also showed a keen interest in newly-emerging issues related to children's rights in the context of new changes such as climate change and the global economic depression. 

The official stressed that the nation’s active participation in the committee’s dialogue mechanism and its implementation of recommendations are of great significance for the implementation of children’s rights in the country, which he said demonstrates that Vietnam is an active and responsible member in the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. During the process, the nation is able to share its experiences with CRC members and other countries, as well as learning from international experience to better perform in the field.

On November 20, 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Vietnam was one of the first countries in the world to sign and ratify this convention, with the nation signing the convention on January 26, 1990, and ratifying it on February 28, 1990.