Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha: In 2024, it is necessary to urgently develop and soon promulgate a strategy on child protection, with a comprehensive, systematic, scientific approach, accompanied by a specific and feasible plan, solutions, organizational apparatus, and implementation resources - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
The Deputy Prime Minister asked leaders of ministries, branches, and members of the Committee to evaluate the implementation results of policies, laws, programs, and action plans, which have helped Vietnamese children receive more attention, as well as whether they are truly practical, appropriate to the purpose and requirements of different ages and groups of children, especially the disadvantaged and unfortunate.
"In addition to the achieved results and policies that have been put into operation and implemented vividly and effectively, there are still many issues arising in children's work that require more drastic, strong and effective actions," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized and stated that "the focus of 2024 is action and implementation". Each ministry and sector needs to identify important, urgent and practical tasks, with full and synchronous implementation conditions, mobilizing the entire political system, community and society, associated with responsibilities and measurable indicators.
Improve quality and innovate in child care and protection
According to the Report of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2023, the system of legal documents on children will continue to be supplemented and amended, ensuring consistency, unity, feasibility, publicity and transparency to better implement children's rights and promptly resolve children's issues.
Agencies, ministries and sectors have resolutely, promptly and synchronously implemented many solutions to prevent and combat child abuse: Training and improving capacity to protect children at the grassroots level; the police force does not let child abuse cases be discovered without being handled; the court has resolved and tried 98.5% of cases related to abuse of people under 18 years old; many cases of children being trafficked or abused have been cared for, assisted and protected...
President of the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa said that communication work on children has had many innovations, emphasizing the role of the family and guiding parents on how to behave with their children.
The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union have coordinated with provinces and cities to carry out many activities to raise awareness and equip children with skills to prevent and combat injuries (drowning, fire prevention, fire fighting, rescue).
The Ministry of Health has gradually implemented a model of nutritional care for the first 1,000 days of a child's life; participated in building and perfecting a database on connecting administrative procedures for birth and death registration and granting health insurance cards to children under 6 years old.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the shortage of vaccines for the Expanded Immunization Program has been resolved - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
Notably, in 2023, 31 provinces and cities organized provincial-level children's forums (about 4,700 children participated), 212 district-level children's forums (more than 32,000 children participated), and 673 commune-level children's forums (more than 77,000 children participated). In addition, the first mock session of the Children's National Assembly was held, along with 33 provincial-level children's council sessions and 282 district-level children's council sessions.
The work of protecting and caring for children in ethnic minority, mountainous and disadvantaged areas continues to receive attention, with more than 6.4 million children receiving support worth over VND1,646 billion. The Vietnam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights has awarded scholarships and gifts to nearly 15,000 children worth VND1.15 billion.
The inter-sectoral coordination organization on children's work was formed at three levels: province, district and commune, with more than 15,000 people, most of whom are part-time, and more than 93,000 grassroots collaborators.
Nationwide, 8,145 inspections and checks on the implementation of policies and laws on children and the prevention and control of child abuse have been conducted (an increase of 774 compared to 2022). The Ministry of Information and Communications has strengthened post-inspection work, regularly scanning information on the Internet, especially social networks (Facebook, TikTok, etc.) to promptly detect and prevent acts of posting images and content that negatively affect children or abuse children.
Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Thanh Hung said that the State budget in 2023 allocated for the children sector (excluding the cost of purchasing health insurance for children under 6 years old) is about 295,000 billion VND (including development investment and regular expenditure). In addition, the Central budget allocated about 500 billion VND to implement a number of programs and projects related to the children sector. Localities all allocated budgets for state management of children.
Leaders of ministries and sectors focus on analyzing complicated issues related to children - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
Many issues related to children are complicated.
However, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha said that the situation of child abuse continues to increase and become complicated, and has not achieved the goals of prevention, control, and reduction compared to the requirements set out.
According to Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Public Security, the number of cases of children and minors violating the law in 2023 increased by 14%, with aggressive and reckless methods and tricks. The main causes leading to violations of the law by children and minors are affected by acts of violence and abuse in the family, social responsibility, and toxic content on social networking platforms. Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Duy Ngoc proposed to review issued documents and policies, actual implementation, clarify responsibilities, "addresses" for receiving and resolving cases of violence and child abuse.
Many new problems have emerged in the situation of disease prevention and control for children, such as dengue fever, increased hand, foot and mouth disease, some localities lacking vaccines for expanded immunization, and an increase in the rate of obese children... At the meeting, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the shortage of vaccines for the expanded immunization program has been resolved.
According to the roadmap to increase the number of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program for the period 2021-2030 (prevention of diseases caused by Rotavirus, pneumococcus, cervical cancer, seasonal flu), it is expected that in June 2024, rotavirus vaccine will be injected into children according to regulations.
From the reality that the network of libraries and cultural and sports institutions is not uniform among regions, mainly concentrated in large cities and district centers, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Nguyen Pham Duy Trang said that it is necessary to pay more attention to orphans, disabled children, children in mountainous and disadvantaged areas; build playgrounds, and manage children's cultural houses models suitable to the needs of children...
In addition, online social platforms are constantly evolving, but there are not enough tools and measures to handle harmful content that is not suitable for children.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said that it is necessary to promote the role and creative ways of organizations and unions in listening, monitoring and directly caring for and protecting children, with the "order" of the state - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
Progress in children's work must be 'measured'
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said that it is necessary to create real changes in existing problems and issues in child care, such as: abuse, school violence, accidents and injuries, safety in cyberspace, psychological counseling, substance use, etc. These are increasingly urgent issues that require stronger, more thorough and effective actions.
"We have laws, policies, programs and plans that are quite consistent, but they have not yet really come into practice," the Deputy Prime Minister raised the issue and pointed out the reason is that policies and guidelines have not been thoroughly understood by all levels, sectors and society, and the work of caring for and protecting children has not been properly perceived as a central political task for the future of the country.
Taking note of the opinions of the Committee members, the Deputy Prime Minister said that it is necessary to research and develop substantive and measurable assessment criteria when implementing the goals set in children's work at the regional and local levels, some important sectors and fields (health, education, labor, invalids and social affairs), investment resources... thereby providing correct, fundamental and specific solutions.
Mechanisms and policies for child protection and care must be reviewed, with clear objectives, assigning responsibilities to each level and sector along with solutions, allocating resources for implementation, perfecting the organizational apparatus, standardizing human resources for child work, especially at the grassroots level; at the same time, promoting the role and creative ways of all organizations and unions in listening, monitoring and directly caring for and protecting children, with "orders" from the State.
In addition, legal documents, programs, and strategies for national and local economic and social development need to assess their impact on children.
Giving opinions on a number of specific issues, the Deputy Prime Minister also assigned ministries and branches to continue to study and improve judicial work for minors; concretize the United Nations' recommendations on improving groups of indicators related to children in sustainable development; assess the impact of online social platforms on children; study the harmful effects of using e-cigarettes or other stimulants on children's physical and mental health; review the current situation and demand for using swimming pools in schools, cultural and sports institutions in the community, etc.
"In 2024, we must urgently deploy and organize the implementation of programs and action plans on child care and protection in a comprehensive, systematic, and scientific manner, along with specific and feasible solutions, organizational apparatus, and implementation resources, in order to resolve existing problems in children's work, ensuring children's rights to comprehensive physical and mental development," said the Deputy Prime Minister.
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