Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixtieth session

Summary record of the 1702nd meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Thursday, 31 May 2012, at 10 a.m.

Chairperson:Mr. Zermatten

Contents

Consideration of reports of States parties (continued)

Combined third and fourth periodic reports of Viet Nam

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Consideration of reports of States parties (continued)

Combined third and fourth periodic reports of Viet Nam (CRC/C/VNM/3-4; CRC/C/VNM/Q/3-4 and Add.1)

At the invitation of the Chairperson, the delegation of Viet Nam took places at the Committee table.

Mr. Doan Mau Diep (Viet Nam), presenting an overview of the socioeconomic situation in Viet Nam, said that economic growth in recent years had enabled his country to improve the lives of many by allocating resources to health care, education and vulnerable groups, including children. Nevertheless, many challenges remained, including the need to maintain macroeconomic stability, reduce poverty levels and bridge the gap between rich and poor. The legal system, child protection and activities for children had been developed and improved to take account of children’s best interests. He listed a number of laws directly affecting children and highlighted the introduction of 15 National Goal Programmes that directly related to the exercise of children’s rights.

Highlighting the challenges facing Viet Nam, he said that although malnutrition rates among children under the age of 5 years had fallen, they remained high in certain areas of the country. While the health-care system had seen improvements, leading to falls in the infant and maternal mortality rates, a lack of clean water and shortage of paediatric health services persisted.

The provision of education in remote areas and areas where ethnic minorities lived had progressed rapidly, as had school and preschool attendance rates. Building safe, child-friendly schools had reduced the level of violence in schools. Educational equity had been promoted, although there were still geographic disparities in access to education. Children from ethnic minorities came up against a language barrier and had low school completion rates, while some children living in conditions of especial hardship did not have access to education.

Child protection measures focused on prevention, risk reduction and support for children who were living in difficult conditions or who were vulnerable. Problems in the area of child protection included serious cases of abuse, exploitation and trafficking of children and school disciplinary practices that were not always in the child’s best interests.

Although greater attention had been accorded to children’s leisure activities, particularly through the establishment of cultural centres for children, the human and financial resources for them were limited and many facilities did not meet child development requirements. The National Forum for Children took place every two years and gave children an opportunity to express their views.

In response to the difficulties described, the Vietnamese Government had developed guidelines and programmes based on the conditions of national socioeconomic development and the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The National Action Programme for Children for 2011–2020 established five goals: to provide equal access to primary health care for all children; to ensure non-discriminatory access to quality education for all children and to increase preschool enrolment; to protect children from abuse, exploitation and neglect and reduce the number of children living in conditions of especial hardship; to enable children to participate in appropriate cultural and sports activities while reducing their access to violent and pornographic publications; and to allow children to access information, express their views and participate in social activities at all levels. Specific measures to implement the programme had been drafted, including strengthening the leadership of People’s Committees in the protection, care and education of children and mobilizing State and private-sector resources.

Viet Nam honoured its international obligations in full, while the country’s legal framework conformed to the principles established in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Government of Viet Nam was committed to reviewing and developing the legal system in order to address any concerns or weaknesses regarding the implementation of children’s rights, and to investing in the practical enjoyment by children of their rights. Despite the many achievements of Viet Nam in protecting children’s rights, as a developing country with limited resources, it continued to face a great number of challenges and looked to the continued support of the Committee, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Member States and international organizations to protect Vietnamese children.

Ms. Sandberg (Country Rapporteur) welcomed the fact that Viet Nam had experienced economic growth leading to reductions in poverty levels and increased standards of living and services. Noting that the Committee had previously drawn attention to the need to bring domestic legislation into line with the Convention, she said that the long delays in enacting legislation posed a serious problem. She understood that the State party intended to amend the 2004 Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children. She asked what the status was of the amendments to that law and why amending the law seemed to be taking so long.

Children were defined by the State party as persons under the age of 16 years, whereas persons between the ages of 16 and 18 were considered to be “young people”. She asked if the legal definition of a child would be changed to include all persons up to the age of 18 years, in conformity with the Convention. Noting that amendments were also planned to bring the legislation and regulations for juvenile justice into conformity with the Convention, she asked if the 2010 Law on the Enforcement of Criminal Sentences did not already do that to a large extent.

She asked what measures were being taken to ensure that the various laws concerning children were implemented effectively. She would be interested to hear the delegation’s comments on the apparently contradictory and overlapping legislative provisions concerning children.

She asked for more information on the organization of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and on its leadership role in the implementation of children’s rights. She would also like more information on vertical coordination to ensure that central policies for children were implemented at the provincial and local levels. At the local level, it appeared that there was one official responsible for many areas besides children’s rights, indicating that there were insufficient staff dealing with children’s issues at the local level. She asked whether there were plans to create local bodies to address children’s issues, what training or qualifications staff dealing with children’s issues had and what measures were being taken to increase the number of social workers.

Welcoming the new National Action Programme for Children for 2011–2020, she asked whether it had already been approved and, if not, when that was expected to happen. Noting that one of the measures to be taken under the programme was to strengthen the leadership of People’s Committees, she asked for clarification of the purpose and role of those committees. In addition, it would be useful to know how the National Programme on Child Protection and the other programmes for children were coordinated to avoid inconsistencies.

The legal framework for NGOs and community-based organizations appeared to be weak. She would like to know what steps were being taken to ensure that the bill on associations was adopted, since community-based organizations experienced difficulties with registration and there were limited opportunities for civil society organizations to work in the field of children’s rights. Given that the Committee relied a good deal on NGOs’ input during the reporting process, she asked how their situation would be improved at the local level.

While appreciating that a number of initiatives had been taken to allow children to express their opinions in Viet Nam, she said that children’s participation in public life nonetheless appeared to be ad hoc rather than systematic, and asked how the State party ensured that children’s participation was not just a token gesture. She would appreciate an explanation of the arrangements made for children’s local, regional and national participation. It would be useful to know whether there were any clubs for children outside the party structure. She noted that the Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children stipulated that children had a duty of obedience to adults; how was that duty balanced against children’s right to participate? She asked for clarification of whether children had the specific right to express their views in court proceedings and, if so, how that right was applied in practice.

Noting that corporal punishment was prohibited within the family, she asked whether corporal punishment was explicitly prohibited and, if so, whether that prohibition covered all types of violence, even small acts of violence, against children. Children themselves said that there was little protection against violence at home, which was common, or corporal punishment at school, because parents and teachers did not listen to children and did not know enough about positive discipline. Information about campaigns against corporal punishment would be welcome. In particular, she would like to know if children’s views informed such campaigns.

Mr. Cardona Llorens (Country Rapporteur), noting that the State party had not indicated its intention to establish an independent national human rights mechanism, asked whether that was due to obstacles within the country, or whether the Government simply did not feel that such a mechanism was necessary or did not consider it a priority.

While he commended Viet Nam for the progress achieved in data collection and compilation, he said that a centralized statistical institution was still needed and asked if there were any plans to establish one. He welcomed the fact that Viet Nam was close to reaching several of the Millennium Development Goals, notably those on achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality rates and improving maternal health. Nevertheless, there were large disparities in the degree of access to rights enjoyed by different groups of children. Cultural, physical, economic and legal obstacles needed to be overcome so that children living in rural areas or on the outskirts of cities, children with disabilities, migrant children, children living with HIV/AIDS and children belonging to ethnic minorities could access their rights on the same footing as other children.

Noting that the principle of the best interests of the child had been incorporated into national law, he asked if the relevant authorities and decision makers had been provided with criteria to use when assessing those interests. He would like to know if the Convention had been disseminated and translated into all languages spoken in Viet Nam, and also if the State budget indicated the exact amount of money spent on policies to benefit children and to combat discrimination.

A greater effort was needed to overcome the cultural barriers preventing children from exercising their rights. He wished to know what the Government was doing to change the paternalistic views prevalent in society — whereby children were seen as the property of their parents and were to be protected rather than empowered — and how it intended to eradicate the stigmatization of children with disabilities.

Mr. Koompraphant asked what legal framework and what monitoring mechanism were in place to ensure the implementation of the 2004 Law on Child Protection, Care and Education, and what social, administrative and educational measures had been taken to achieve the objectives set out in that law. It would be interesting to have specific examples of the family services mentioned in paragraph 150 of the State party’s report. Lastly, he asked what legal measures were being taken to deal with abusive and negligent parents.

Ms. Nores de García asked what follow-up had been given to the anti-corruption law adopted in 2005 and whether any further public policies had been developed to combat corruption, which hindered the development necessary for the enjoyment of human rights.

Mr. Kotrane encouraged the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, as well as similar optional protocols to other international human rights instruments. He also urged the State party to consider ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He welcomed the fact that Viet Nam had withdrawn its reservation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

He asked if measures had been taken to discourage the preference for male over female children among parents and to ensure that girls had equal opportunities to exercise their rights. He wondered what was being done to stem the practice of early marriage.

Mr. Pollar asked what measures the Government was taking to raise awareness of the importance of registering births. He wondered how the Government ensured that children were protected from harmful information in both print and electronic media.

Ms. Wijemanne asked what efforts, if any, the Government was making to establish an independent mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Convention, and to establish a database on children in vulnerable situations. She wondered what was being done to ensure the registration of births of children born to poor families in the north-west central highlands.

Ms. Varmah asked what the legal age of marriage was in the country, given that a child was defined as a person under the age of 16. She also asked about the current status of the plan to introduce mobile birth registration centres in remote areas and in areas where temporary migrants resided. It was her understanding that birth registration policies were not fully implemented at the local level, and she requested specific data on birth registrations among migrant, homeless and stateless children and children belonging to ethnic minorities. She wished to know why Kampuchea Khmer Krom children were subject to discrimination.

Mr. Guráň asked why there was not yet an independent national human rights institution in Viet Nam and what options the Government was considering for the future establishment of such an institution.

The meeting was suspended at 11.10 a.m. and resumed at 11.30 a.m.

Mr. Dang Duc San (Viet Nam) said that his Government recognized the need to bring national laws into line with international standards. Accordingly, it planned to submit a revised version of the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education to the National Assembly by the end of 2013 for adoption in early 2014. The improvements contained in the new law would include: raising the legal age of majority; identifying the responsibilities of the various actors involved in the field of children’s rights; stipulating punishments for violations of those rights; encouraging the mobilization of resources within the private sector; making recommendations to improve data collection, and establishing principles of juvenile justice to ensure child-friendly prosecution procedures and the social reintegration of children in conflict with the law.

The Chairperson asked whether he understood correctly that the amended law would be a completely comprehensive law covering all aspects of the Convention, or whether, in addition to the general framework law, specific laws on each of the different domains involved would also be adopted. While on the one hand it was commendable that Viet Nam was planning to adopt such an ambitious law, he was concerned about the length of time needed to effectively implement such a law.

Mr. Dang Duc San (Viet Nam) said that the amended law would establish basic principles for the protection, care and education of children, which would then be further developed in other more specific laws. A new regulation had been passed whereby the implementing regulations for any bill must be adopted at the same time as the bill, in order to avoid delays in implementation. National law also stated that in the case of conflicting provisions contained in different laws, the most recently adopted law should supersede all older laws. All related provisions of older laws must therefore be reviewed in order to avoid duplication.

Replying to the question on the delay in amending the 2004 Law on Child Protection, Care and Education, he explained that the legislative process was very lengthy because when a law was revised, the draft had to be provided to all relevant agencies for input, then compiled and submitted to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and, eventually, sent to the National Assembly for inclusion in the programme of work. Moreover, the National Assembly only convened twice a year and had many bills to examine. Reforms of the legislative process were being considered, notably to increase the number of parliamentary sessions in order to meet legislative demands. The relevant bodies, including the office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Hanoi, had now submitted their input on the bill and a draft would be finalized by 2013.

Viet Nam had signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was responsible for determining where Vietnamese legislation fell short of the requirements of the Convention, with a view to proceeding with the amendments necessary for ratification. The legislative process provided for consultation with children through workshops, seminars and dialogues.

Under current legislation, a child was defined as any individual aged 16 years or under. The bill amending the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education would correct that definition to match the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Under the Law on Marriage and Family, the minimum marriage age was 18 for girls and 20 for boys.

Ms. Sandberg said that, according to information provided to the Committee, children sometimes married earlier than the statutory minimum age. She wondered whether that fact pointed to a lack of enforcement of the law.

Mr. Dang Duc San(Viet Nam) said that many small minority groups, particularly those living in remote mountainous areas, did not have adequate access to information, leading to a discrepancy between the law and practice. However, penalties did exist and the Government carried out campaigns to raise awareness of legislation, including on the minimum marriage age.

The Chairperson asked whether the minimum age differed from one domain to another.

Mr. Dang Duc San(Viet Nam) said that couples who wished to marry had to register with the authorities, thereby ensuring that they had reached the minimum marriage age. The minimum age did vary from one domain to another.

Ms. Sandberg asked if the information campaigns were conducted in minority languages.

Ms. Aidoo commended the State party on its unprecedented socioeconomic progress and for being on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals. She asked if it had adopted a case-by-case approach to minority rights, namely a bespoke policy in each field, or if it had a global strategy for ensuring that minorities were not penalized for their cultural, linguistic or geographic specificities.

Mr. Doan Mau Diep(Viet Nam) said that Viet Nam was home to 53 minority groups and that, pursuant to Government policy, all ethnic groups were equal, should have equal access to social services and should benefit equally from economic growth. That policy was implemented, jointly with civil society organizations, through various programmes geared towards ethnic minorities, such as campaigns to raise awareness of laws and education schemes that provided grants for meals, tuition, textbooks and housing. Communications activities were carried out in various languages by community outreach officers in markets and on local radio stations.

Mr. Nguyen Trong An (Viet Nam) said that the Committee for Population, Family and Children had been disbanded in 2007, but its responsibilities had been redistributed among other agencies. The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was the coordinating body in matters of child protection. Ensuring the protection of children at the local level was somewhat problematic owing to staff shortages and ill-qualified personnel. In that connection, the Government had issued a decree to increase the number of social workers being trained in the area of child protection. The draft of the National Action Programme for Children for 2011–2020 had been completed and submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, pending the planning of inter-agency coordination and the allocation of a budget.

The Chairperson said he was perplexed by the rationale of disbanding the Committee for Population, Family and Children, which had been active at the local level, and replacing it with a more centralized body. Did the bill amending the 2004 Law on Child Protection, Care and Education provide for the establishment of local entities and measures to offset the financial and human resources shortfall?

Mr. Doan Mau Diep (Viet Nam) said that the dissolution of the Committee for Population, Family and Children did not point to a disinterest in the protection of children, but rather to a view that child education and care should be comprehensive and involve civil society and the private sector. Viet Nam, in cooperation with UNICEF, had launched a pilot childcare system that promoted improved coordination, especially at the local level. Pursuant to Decision No. 32/2010QD-TTg, social work was being developed as a profession in its own right. The Government had approved the establishment of social services centres for children and a 24-hour helpline was available to them. The helpline had logged 200,000 calls in 2011.

Mr. Nguyen Trong An (Viet Nam) said that the participation of children in the legislative process was mandated by law.The Government had issued guidelines requiring each province to organize regular forums for children to voice their opinions and concerns. Mechanisms forchild participation in public life included the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and various local youth clubs. Members of the National Assembly met annually with their constituents, including children. The National Action Programme for Children for 2011–2020 had been formulated by a committee composed of representatives of Government agencies. The Ministry of Justice and its local offices were responsible for registering births. Campaigns had been conducted to encourage individuals, particularly those from minorities in remote mountainous areas, to register their babies. Obstacles remained to birth registration in remote areas, but minimal registration fees and free health care for children under the age of 6 years were encouraging parents to apply for a birth certificate and health card, which were also issued to the children of migrants and persons belonging to ethnic minorities.

Ms. Varmah said that the Committee had received reports that some Khmer Krom children had been forced to accept Vietnamese names, which effectively deprived them of their cultural heritage. She wished to know whether that was indeed the case.

Mr. Doan Mau Diep (Viet Nam) said that parents were responsible for choosing the name of their child and that there were no legal provisions governing that matter. As a general rule, children belonging to different ethnicities were given traditional names but could also be given a Vietnamese name.

Mr. Vu Anh Quang (Viet Nam) said that choosing the name of a child whose parents belonged to different ethnicities could prove problematic, especially in minority areas, but that the decision remained with the child’s parents.

Ms. Sandberg, recalling that the practice of giving Cambodian children Vietnamese names had been widespread in the 1950s, asked when exactly the practice had begun and when it had been abolished.

Mr. Vu Anh Quang (Viet Nam) said that, in the 1950s, his country had been under the rule of a different regime and that the current Government was not in a position to provide information on that matter. He reiterated that there was no legal provision preventing parents from naming or renaming their children as they saw fit.

Mr. Mai Phan Dung(Viet Nam) said that international instruments encouraged States parties to establish independent monitoring mechanisms without imposing a specific model to follow. In Viet Nam, consensus on an ideal model had yet to be reached. He pointed out that in South-East Asia, only four countries had established such a mechanism. Whether or not a country possessed such a mechanism should not be the only criterion used to assess the human rights situation therein. The Government, acting through the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, had taken various steps to promote human rights and to encourage all relevant stakeholders to participate in that endeavour. The commission for youth and children’s affairs of the National Assembly played a vital role in promoting children’s rights and inspectors specialized in children’s affairs had also been appointed to that end. The Government encouraged the participation of civil society in the promotion of children’s rights and attached great importance to the oversight provided by UNICEF, as well as to the input of other international and non-profit organizations, especially regarding the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism.

The Chairperson said that the Committee was interested in the steps the State party had taken to establish an independent human rights institution and not in its collaboration with other organizations. The State party should take advantage of the current legislative reform to add a chapter on the establishment of such an institution, especially in the light of the Committee’s previous recommendation.

Ms. Sandberg asked whether the current definition of abuse and neglect set out in Vietnamese legislation already covered all aspects outlined in article 19 of the Convention or whether the Government planned to broaden the scope of that definition as part of the ongoing reform process. The Committee had received reports that gender-based violence occurred in one out of three households. She enquired as to whether the prevalence of such violence could be attributed to gender stereotyping or to other factors, and to its impact on young girls in particular. She would also welcome additional information on the alleged practice of parents selecting a child based on gender and of mothers electing to abort when the baby was not of the desired sex. Furthermore, she failed to understand how the community-based pilot project on child protection worked in practice and would like to know whether teachers, health professionals and other relevant actors were required to report to the local child protection authorities.

Mr. Cardona Llorens said that, despite the Government’s efforts to protect minority groups from discrimination, the consequences of that discrimination were visible in the health and educational spheres. Regrettably, the State party had been unable to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as it had not met the relevant requirements. However, he noted with satisfaction that the Government had begun to review legislation, practices and resources with a view to remedying that situation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child identified inclusive education as means of improving the situation of children with disabilities. Allowing children with disabilities to attend mainstream schools would serve to foster greater understanding of their condition and to reduce the stigma attached to it. Therefore, he would be interested to know whether the Government was pursuing inclusive education policies. Concerned by the high dropout rate among students belonging to ethnic minorities, he wished to know whether they were educated in their own language, whether there were trained teachers who belonged to an ethnic minority working in those schools and whether there were teaching materials available in minority languages.

He requested clarification on whether the principle of juvenile justice only applied to children aged between 14 and 16, whether the age of criminal responsibility for children was therefore 14 and whether children aged between 16 and 18 were treated as adults in criminal matters. The fact that child offenders aged between 16 and 18 were subject to punitive and not re-educational measures explained the increasing number of those children who reoffended. He asked whether the Government had envisaged replacing those punitive measures with re-educational ones and whether there were specialized re-education centres for those children. In addition, he requested clarification on whether children who had been the victims of sexual exploitation and related offences were prescribed re-educational measures or whether they were treated as if they had committed a crime.

Ms. Lee asked whether the school curriculum included a human rights element and referred to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, given that the dissemination of children’s rights in schools could help combat discrimination against children with disabilities and children belonging to ethnic minorities. Having expressed concern at the negative impact of defoliants such as Agent Orange on the exercise of the right to health and the right to play, the Committee noted with satisfaction that the Government had created more recreational and leisure areas for children and hoped to extend those facilities to all communes. She would appreciate an update on the progress achieved in that area and details on any impediments thereto.

She welcomed the State party’s withdrawal of its reservations to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. However, she noted with regret that the State party had failed to provide follow-up information on the number of cases in which the jurisdiction mentioned in article 4, paragraphs (2) and (3), of that Optional Protocol had been exercised. She requested the State party to include such information in its next periodic report.

Turning to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, she regretted the absence of follow-up information on the measures adopted by the State party to facilitate physical, psychological recovery and social reintegration. Recalling that the Optional Protocol expressly prohibited children aged under 18 from taking part in hostilities, she requested clarification on the declaration made by Viet Nam on ratifying that Optional Protocol to the effect that children aged under 18 would not be directly involved in hostilities unless there was an urgent need to safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. She reminded the State party that to involve children aged under 18 in hostilities constituted a failure to comply with its obligations under that Optional Protocol.

Ms. Nores de García said the fact that the new 2010 law on adoption had been aligned with the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption was a positive development. However, she expressed concern at the proliferation of private adoption agencies in Viet Nam, particularly since article 21 of the Convention required States parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the placement of a child did not result in improper financial gain. She asked what measures the State party had taken to prevent such agencies from gaining from the adoption of Vietnamese children.

Ms. Aidoo said that the progress achieved by the State party in the area of early childhood development was commendable, particularly since around 99 per cent of 5-year-olds were now enrolled in early childhood development programmes. However, she noted with concern that the majority of early childhood centres were privately owned, which raised the question of how the State ensured the quality of and equal access to early childhood education. Moreover, she enquired as to how the State ensured that children under the age of 5 received adequate health care, nutrition and early stimulation. Furthermore, the State should engage those children in activities that would expose them to different languages and the concept of gender equality. She also wished to know how families were involved in designing and supervising early childhood programmes.

She commended the Government for allocating around 20 per cent of the national budget to education but noted that it continued to face many challenges, including disparity in access, low completion rates and language barriers. She expressed concern at the high dropout rate among children belonging to minority groups and at the fact that a large proportion of those children failed to complete their education. The fact that, of those children who had never attended school, only 6 per cent belonged to the majority population was a major cause for concern. She wished to know what measures the Government had taken to reduce the high dropout rate among minority children and to assist those children who had never attended school. She asked whether there were “second-chance” programmes in the area of children’s education and, if so, whether vocational education was provided. Lastly, she enquired as to whether the Government had devised specific programmes aimed at bridging the gaps in the education of minority groups.

Mr. Madi said that the issue of child labour in Viet Nam was of serious concern to the Committee. He understood that many children under the age of 12 were economically active and often engaged in strenuous and hazardous activities for an excessive number of hours. He would like to receive information on the specific legislative and administrative measures the Government had taken to address that phenomenon. He also requested clarification on the minimum legal working age in the State party. The Committee had received reports that children placed in certain detention centres were forced to work and that their wages were used to offset the costs of those detention centres. He requested clarification on that matter and information on how those detention centres were inspected and monitored.

Mr. Koompraphant asked how the State authorities identified children who had been deprived of a family environment, such as street children or orphans, and what administrative or social measures were in place to remedy that situation.

The meeting rose at 1 p.m.