The 2016 Law on Children became effective on June 1 with a variety of provisions aiming to comprehensively intensify enforcement of children's rights.
The law, passed by the National Assembly on April 5, 2016, provides a legal foundation for children’s rights in Vietnam and institutionalizes the Party's, State's and Government’s guidelines and policies guaranteeing the enforcement of children’s rights in the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It has also created a firm legal foundation to improve the efficiency of preventing, controlling, detecting and handling child abuse.
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| Keep the smiles on chilren’s faces__Photo: VNA |
The law provides regulations ensuring various children’s entitlements, such as the right of privacy, the right to live with parents, the right to be adopted and the right to be protected from abuse including violence, sexual harassment, labor exploitation, abandonment and kidnapping.
Lawyer Do Thi Thao Ha from the Hanoi Bar Association said the law has proved a progressive and appropriate response to the nation’s current social development.
It clarifies prohibited acts, including encroaching on child privacy and putting children in online dangers, Ha told the Vietnam News.
She praised the recent issuance of Government Decree No 56/2017/ND-CP, which has helped concretize the implementation of the law.
The decree details the responsibilities of agencies, organizations and localities in a bid to minimize harm to the children and ensure that their legitimate rights are observed.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a specialist on child protection from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said the law has helped demonstrate Vietnam’s commitment to the protection and care of children.
This specific provision in the decree strengthens Vietnam’s commitment to safeguarding children and respecting children’s rights, including the right to privacy, enshrined in Article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, also highlighted is the robust response to the potential risks of online abuse and exploitation, Anh noted.
Statistics from the UNICEF show that 120 million girls and 73 million boys across the globe are sexually abused, and one billion children globally experience some form of physical punishment. Asia is among the regions worldwide to witness the highest rate of child maltreatment.
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the country recorded about 5,300 cases of child sexual abuse in the past three years, most of them in family situations or environments that are familiar to the victims.
Nguyen Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Children Department, said although the number of child abuse cases decreased last year, most cases turned out to be more serious and complicated.
In response to this, the law defines the responsibilities of related agencies, particularly the local authorities where the incidents took place, Nga said, noting that, at the same time, Decree 56 will help enhance the prevention and control of child violence and abuse.- (VNS/VLLF)
