Reporter: UNICEF’s mission in Viet Nam is to make sure every child in the country is healthy, educated and safe from harm, therefore, having the best start in life and a fair chance to reach her or his full potential and benefit from the country’s prosperity. Could you please share how the mission was carried out in 2019?
Ms. Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam. (Photo: UNICEF)
Ms. Rana Flowers: Together with the Government, UNICEF and partners, achieved strong results for children in 2019, especially in helping children survive and thrive. For example, Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) has been implemented in almost all health facilities (96%)across the country, benefiting more than 800,000 newborns. About one million children were fully immunized and a number of policies and guidelines were issued and put in to practice to ensure that young babies receive good quality health care services. Importantly, parents were reached, especially those in difficult to access areas, with knowledge and much-needed skills to care, nurture and protect their children. In 2019, UNICEF’s supported Parenting Programme supported nearly 40,000 parents in Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dien Bien and two factories in Ho Chi Minh City.
Viet Nam took a big step in improving its legal framework and policies to better protect children from harm and violence. The revised Labour Law is now closer to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and other international standards. It has clearer provisions on preventing child labour, prohibiting all forms of hazardous and exploitative child labour, and protecting minor workers, especially those working in the informal economy. Significant improvements have also been seen in child justice with the roll out of Family and Juvenile Courts to 36 cities and provinces and the enactment of the Judicial Resolution of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on child sexual violence. This will improve child-friendly and gender-sensitive adjudication procedures for cases of sexual violence against children.
The rights of children with disabilities to education has also been better reflected in the revised Law on Education. Close to five million pre-school children benefit from teachers able to facilitate learning through play, as a result of a gender-responsive social emotional learning curriculum supported by UNICEF. And since the start of the 2019 school year, all Vietnamese students have benefitted from a new curriculum, with increased Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) awareness and resilience.
Given the return on investment achieved when the public budget is clearly focused to children, attention to the development of the 2021-2030 Public Finance Strategy was important. It is UNICEF’s hope that this will result in a higher budget expenditure for children as well as improved quality and effectiveness of the State Budget on children.
Reporter: As the first country in Asia and the second in the world to sign (1990) and ratify (2001) the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Vietnam has made strong commitments and achievements in care and protection of children, which are highly appreciated by UNICEF and the international community. What can you share about this?
Ms. Rana Flowers: Together, we enjoyed a wonderful celebration here in Viet Nam in November 2019 on the thirtieth anniversary of the CRC. Not only was it an opportunity to celebrate the great progress that has been made to advance children’s rights to date but it was inspiring to see the leaders of National Assembly and the Government including the provincial and city leaders recommit itself to realising the rights of every Vietnamese child regardless of who they are or where they’re from.
Over the past three decades, Viet Nam’s strong political commitment and leadership on child rights has led to improvements in the lives of millions of children in the country. Under five and infant mortality rates have decreased significantly; immunization coverage is high; and more children are enrolled in school, likely to complete a full course of primary education. We’ve also seen significant progress in other areas such as expanded access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Viet Nam has also created a more supportive environment to promote exclusive breastfeeding for young children, such as extending maternity leave from four to six months and limiting how companies can advertise and market breastmilk substitutes for young infants.
Keeping children safe has also been high on the Government’s agenda with the establishment of a child protection system which includes the creation of child protection committees in half of all communes. A new chapter on human rights with a specific provision on children’s rights and the role of the State was added to the 2013 Constitution. And the 2016 Law on Ms. Children further articulates these Constitutional provisions by providing the legal framework for fulfilling the rights of all children in Viet Nam and better aligning with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
But, of course, we must not rest. There is still work to do. In Viet Nam, segments of the country’s child and adolescent population have been left behind and continue to live in conditions of deprivation and exclusion. High levels of sex selection that favours boys risks significant social problems in the future; while early marriage and teenage pregnancy deserve greater attention. Violence against children remains widespread in Viet Nam, lacking sufficient community based protection and response capacity. And children are facing greater risks when they go online. Moreover, the 2016 Law on Children sets the age of the child at 16, which is not aligned with the international standards set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This constitutes a major gap, as children who fall in the 16-17 year old group are denied their rights to support and protection as per the Convention. We look forward to working in partnership with the Government to address these gaps in 2020.
Reporter: Vietnam has made significant progress in the universalisation of primary and lower secondary education has achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in education and has committed to the Sustainable Development Goals in Education by 2025 and the orientation by 2030. Could you share your assessments of these results?
Ms. Rana Flowers: UNICEF applauds the Government for its strong leadership in ensuring access to quality education for children from aged 5 in pre-primary to primary school and lower secondary education.
In line with international lessons learnt, we count on the Government to continue to increase efforts to ensure that the current 2.2 million ethnic minority pre-and primary school children benefit equally from quality education by keeping satellite schools open in remote areas and driving Mother Tongue Based Bi-Lingual Education Programmes in all schools with ethnic minority children.
In a very important step forward, the Government is paying crucial attention to the integration of digital learning and transferable skills into pre-primary, primary, secondary curricula and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to build human capital and productivity. We are also pleased with Viet Nam’s commitment to promote children’s future resilience to climate change by integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change action (CCA) into the Education system. Viet Nam now needs to scale-up this approach urgently, especially -- but not limited to – regarding children’s exposure to air pollution, including during school hours.
Reporter: Child sexual abuse and exploitation are issues of growing concern in Vietnam. What should we do to combat this serious form of violence against children?
Ms. Rana Flowers: Thanks to increased and better reporting and campaigns, there is now greater awareness amongst the public about the issue of violence against children, especially sexual abuse. As a result, there is less tolerance of it. The government has placed the issue of violence against children high on its agenda and prioritized actions to prevent and respond to incidents. Child protection committees are being established at provincial, district and commune levels to guide local officials in prevention and handling of cases of child abuse, exploitation and violence.
Despite these best efforts, Viet Nam still faces many challenges in protecting children from all forms of violence and abuse, especially sexual abuse. It is critical that Viet Nam further strengthens its legal framework to be in line with international standards. This should, as previously mentioned, include revision of the Law on Children so that children are defined as all persons under-18, and benefit from the protection system.
Addressing child violence and abuse requires a stronger Social Welfare Workforce. This can be achieved by restructuring and developing a network of trained social workers, especially at provincial level and district level. Trained professionals at commune level would provide support services, starting with prevention and early intervention at the community level to assess risks, and provide case management and referrals to specialized child protection services for victims of abuse and exploitation.
Effective prevention and response to child abuse and exploitation requires improved inter-agency coordination and access to quality child protection services. There is a need to address social norms and increase ‘prevention measures’ – recognising that prevention costs far less than the long-term costs of abuse against children. The capacity of parents/caregivers should also be improved by developing and implementing programmes to strengthen parenting practices and promote positive forms of discipline in homes and in schools.
Reporter: Could you please share about what priorities you will focus on as UNICEF Representative in Vietnam in 2020?
Ms. Rana Flowers: Entering the new decade, with 2020 -- the year of the Rat, the first in the Moon Calendar zodiac cycle -- I look forward to a dynamic, decisive and fruitful year which I believe the Rat year will bring.
Viet Nam’s position in the world today has changed dramatically. Since 2010, Viet Nam is a Middle Income Country and its economy is one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the region. And this year, of course, Viet Nam is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and Chair of ASEAN in 2020.
But rapid development also brings challenges. Viet Nam faces the “last mile challenge” of leaving no child or adolescent behind. Meeting this challenge requires political will and further investments in reducing child and maternal mortality; preventing and ensuring treatment for malnutrition; improving access to safe water and sanitation for all children; especially in elimination of open defection; enhancing the quality and inclusiveness of education; strengthening the protective environment for children and investing in social protection. At the same time, the impact on children of emerging issues such as climate change, pollution, urbanization, migration and online hazards must be better understood and practical actions prioritized. UNICEF will step up efforts to address these emerging challenges.
These are a few of the priority areas for our cooperation programme with the Government of Viet Nam during the next two years. We will focus on knowledge generation for policy reforms, testing new programme approaches and building new partnerships. We will work closely with the government and other partners including the private sector, the civil society and children and youth, to maximise human and capital resources for the realisation of child rights in Viet Nam.
In all of this, State Budget investment for delivery of essential services, human resources and capacities are critically important for Viet Nam to enhance competitiveness in the global market and support its aging population. We look forward to working in partnership with the Government to deliver on this ambitious agenda for every child.
Reporter: Thank you very much!