Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has made great efforts tocare for about 700,000 children with disabilities, including measures toenhance the efficiency of policies supporting them.

Vietnam was the first country in Asia and the second in theworld to ratify the International Convention on the Right of the Child in 1989,and the 118th signature members of the International Convention onthe Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007.

Since then, the position and role of persons withdisabilities, especially children, have been improved, while the country’slegal system in the field has also become closer to the common norms of international law regarding children with disabilities with the promulgation of many policies, projects and programmes.

The Constitution 2013 devotes one chapter to human rights withspecial regulations on the rights of children, including those with disability.Meanwhile, the Children Law 2016 has also created a fundamental legal frameworkto ensure the full observance of rights for all children, with stipulations more aligned with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Other laws have alsobeen reviewed and updated to better meet the requirements of internationalpractices and norms related to rights of children and children with disabilityin particular.

Notably, the Law on Persons with Disabilities, which wasadopted in 2010, marked an important milestone regarding the position of disabledchildren in society, showing the efforts and determination of the Party andState to support them in integrating into the society. Supportive policies insocial welfare, health care, education, vocational training, employment andculture-sport activities have also been promulgated to ensure that they havegood access to caring, protection and education services in the community.

Ministries, sectors and localities have also joined hands incaring for children with disabilities by effectively implementing the policiesand reporting feedback for the completion of the policies.

In order to improve the efficiency of the policies,especially in remote and mountainous areas, on October 29, 2018, the PrimeMinister issued Decision No. 1438/QD-TTg approving a project to assist childrenwith disabilities in accessing caring, protection and education services in thecommunity in the 2018-2025 period.

The project set a target that in 2025, all children withdisabilities access the necessary services and opportunities to practice their fullrights. The project is entering the second phase with many specific goals.

However, so far, the public awareness of the rights ofchildren with disability remains modest, while there is a lack of specialschools giving caring and education services for children with disabilities,and nursing and vocational training centres for them have faced manydifficulties in infrastructure and personnel.

In the time to come, in order to give better care forchildren with disabilities, it is necessary to strengthen communications on thepolicies and laws regarding the rights of the children and raise publicawareness of the responsibilities of families and society in ensuring children’saccess to caring, protection and education services in the community.

Further efforts should be made to complete the system oflaws and policies to assist children with disability and enhance the capacityof officials and suppliers of services for the children, and expand the networkof supporting service suppliers for them.

State management on the work should also be strengthened,along with stricter inspection and monitoring over the implementation of the policiesand laws./.