Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh received the Director of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region.

On the afternoon of November 26, at the National Assembly House, Party Central Committee member and National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh received UNICEF Director for East Asia and the Pacific June Kunugi and the United Nations delegation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the partnership between Vietnam and UNICEF and the 35th anniversary of Vietnam's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Báo Đại biểu Nhân dân•26/11/2025

Also attending were: Deputy Chairman of the National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, Major General Tran Duc Thuan; Deputy Chairman of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee Ta Van Ha; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Hoang Giang...

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh received the Director of the United Nations Children's Fund for East Asia and the Pacific .

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh was pleased to welcome Ms. June Kunugi and the United Nations delegation to visit and work in Vietnam; to attend the ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vietnam - UNICEF cooperation and the 35th anniversary of Vietnam's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same time, she thanked UNICEF and the Committee on the Rights of the Child for their continuous support and close cooperation with Vietnam over the past 50 years; hoping that the two sides will work together to further promote the good, practical and effective cooperation in the care and protection of Vietnamese children.

Affirming that Vietnam always considers UNICEF as one of its important development partners, the Vice President of the National Assembly highly appreciated and thanked UNICEF for its support in assisting Vietnam in implementing policies and strategies on children, especially in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, implementing the expanded vaccination program for children and providing emergency support to localities affected by natural disasters and floods.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh and UNICEF Director for East Asia and the Pacific June Kunugi at the reception.

UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director June Kunugi thanked Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh for taking the time to receive the delegation; affirming that during 50 years of companionship, the cooperation between the Government of Vietnam and UNICEF has become one of the typical, effective and sustainable development partnership models. UNICEF has made very important contributions to Vietnam in child care, education and protection. UNICEF was one of the first international organizations to support Vietnam in the post-war years, contributing to solving urgent problems of nutrition, health, education and clean water for children. Such support contributed to laying the foundation for Vietnam's modern child welfare system.

The UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director also expressed his deep sympathy for the loss of human lives and property caused by natural disasters and floods in Vietnam in 2025; affirming that UNICEF is ready to support Vietnam in rebuilding after disasters and natural disasters.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh speaks at the reception.

Congratulating Vietnam on its achievements, especially on sustainable development goals such as clean water, environmental protection, and child care, the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director highly appreciated the Vietnamese National Assembly for also developing and promulgating many policies in the field of child care and protection. In particular, the Vietnamese National Assembly recently passed the Law on Juvenile Justice, which includes groundbreaking contents, demonstrating Vietnam's international commitment to protecting children's rights.

In the context of a rapidly changing world with many challenges not only in terms of economy, finance, climate change, population shift, and population aging, Ms. June Kunugi is pleased to see that Vietnam's policies always put children at the center of the agenda. Vietnam is a typical model in child care and protection.

UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director June Kunugi speaks at the meeting

Emphasizing that children today face many difficulties, challenges, fragility and vulnerability, Ms. June Kunugi hopes that Vietnam will continue to have effective solutions so that children can access science and technology, innovation... to adapt and solve new challenges, especially issues of safety in cyberspace, the impact of AI, digitalization, mental health, migration and epidemics.

Acknowledging the proposals of Ms. June Kunugi and the members of the delegation, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh said that the National Assembly and the State of Vietnam always pay special attention to ensuring the rights of the young generation, adolescents and children, which are demonstrated and determined in the process of building and integrating contents on children in draft laws in recent years, such as: Law on Teachers (amended in 2025); Law on Management and Use of Weapons and Explosives; Road Law; Law on Road Traffic Safety; Law on Civil Defense; Law on Juvenile Justice; Law on Personal Data Protection and many other laws...

Thanks to that, Vietnam has achieved outstanding achievements in child care, education and protection: reducing the rate of stunting in children under 5 years old to 18.2% (2023), reaching the global average; the rate of child labor decreased from 9.6% (2012) to 3.5% (2024); violence against children also decreased significantly...

In particular, 2025 marks an important turning point in the field of education, training and health care with the promulgation of Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW dated August 22, 2025 on breakthroughs in education and training development and Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health. The Resolutions have clearly defined the target to strive for by 2030: "completing universal preschool education for children from 3 to 5 years old and compulsory education after lower secondary school"..., with specific tasks and solutions to achieve this goal.

At the 10th Session, the Vietnamese National Assembly also discussed and amended three draft laws in the field of education, including many contents related to education reform, protecting children's rights, improving a favorable educational environment, measures to reduce school violence; strengthening the role and coordination of teachers, schools, families and society...

In the coming time, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh requested UNICEF and the Committee on Children's Rights to continue to accompany and support the agencies and specialized committees of the National Assembly in terms of technology, professional advice, finance and legal policy development to research and analyze scientific evidence and international experience to continue to improve laws and policies on children in accordance with common international standards, including regulations on the age of Vietnamese children.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Director June Kunugi and delegates took a souvenir photo.

In addition, introduce and share international models and experiences on sustainable development planning with a focus on children; provide technical support and capacity building to analyze budgets for children in national budget allocation; focus on support solutions to address new challenges...

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/vice-chairman-of-the-national-assembly-nguyen-thi-thanh-tiep-giam-doc-unicef-khu-vuc-dong-a-thai-binh-duong-10397241.html