Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) andChief Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam Rana Flowers

The NA leader highly appreciated the support ofthe organisation in protecting children’s rights in Vietnam over the past time.

The bilateral cooperation programmes aim to reachall children, especially the most vulnerable ones, ensuring they have equalopportunities for development, Ngan said.

Rana Flowers said she hopes to receive moresupport from the NA Chairwoman and cooperation from the legislative body’sagencies to promote the implementation of children’s rights in Vietnam.

She noted that 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Vietnam wasthe first Asian country to ratify.

This year, the UNICEF wants to cooperate withVietnam to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the convention, she said.

Chairwoman Ngan said Vietnam is ready tocoordinate with the UNICEF to mark this event, and the country will senddelegates to participate in the 74th session of the UN General Assembly inSeptember 2019.

She expressed her satisfaction over the soundand effective cooperation between the UNICEF and the Vietnamese legislature,particularly the NA Committee for Culture, Education, Youth,Adolescents and Children, in improving the capacity of elected deputies insupervising the enforcement of children’s rights in Vietnam from 2006 topresent, in the spirit of ensuring no one is left behind, especially vulnerablegroups like children and women.

The top legislator affirmed that as aresponsible member of the UN, Vietnam has carried out many programmes andprojects integrating the rights of children into law-making programmes.

She said lawmakers and voters pay greatattention to child protection. Children, women and ethnic minority people arealways a focus of discussions about education, health care and social welfare.

The Chairwoman also shared with her guestinformation on Vietnam’s investment in children’s comprehensive development,highlighting healthcare programmes such as improving reproductive health,reducing the rate of infant fatalities, and implementing maternity leave asstipulated in the Labour Code.

She added that recently, the NA decided to conductsupreme supervision on the implementation of policies and laws on preventingchild abuse in 2020.

She also discussed with the UNICEF ChiefRepresentative the impacts of migration, climate change, and urbanisation onchildren.-VNA