US$16 million project launched to promote Vietnamese children’s rights

The project will be carried out during 2018-2021 in Lao Cai, Dien Bien, Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Dong Thap provinces, as well as in Da Nang city, at a total cost of over US$16.3 million sourced from non-refundable official development assistance.

It aims to promote law enforcement and programmes to ensure the implementation of children’s rights in Vietnam, as well as renew social security measures to address multidimensional poverty.

In addition, the project will build and effectively operate child protection systems including social work for children, while developing child protection and justice services, facilitating communication work to raise public awareness and changing cultural practices that hinder children’s development.

Speaking at the launch workshop for the project, MOLISA Deputy Minister, Nguyen Thi Ha, affirmed that, over the past 40 years, Vietnam has always received active support from UNICEF to contribute to the realisation of the rights of children in the country.

However, there are still challenges to the work that need to be addressed, such as the nation’s legal framework related to children’s rights, based on international standards, still has voids that need to be filled, as well as a lack of standards, regulations and processes for a comprehensive health care system for children, different statistics of children’s rights among the authorities concerned, and limited allocation of resources to carry out the children’s rights realisation.

UNICEF Deputy Country Representative in Vietnam, Lesley Miller, pledged her organisation’s continuous support to Vietnam to better implement children’s rights. Stressing that deploying the project would help raise awareness of the community and the people about children's rights, the UN official also urged the relevant ministries, departments, and localities in Vietnam to work together on issues related to children.