Mekong youth discuss human trafficking

Five Vietnamese children, together with 25 contemporaries from the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries, are in Bangkok, Thailand for the third Mekong Youth Forum on Human Trafficking and Migration.

The week-long forum aims to inform policy makers and the public about a range of risks children in the region face. Delegates at the forum are also discussing measures to better protect at-risk children and youth from exploitation and trafficking.

Participants from countries, including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, will discuss and share their first-hand experiences with migration or trafficking. The five Vietnamese children were selected by 85 delegates at the National Children's Conference in August.

Nguyen Thi Mai An, 15, from the central Highlands province of Kon Tum, told te English-language daily Vietnam News before her departure that she and her friends would walk along the border near her home to disseminate information about human trafficking to local residents.

They provided the local children with information about human trafficking and held talks and spread the slogans: "Listen to the children's cry on the other side of borderline" and "Put traffickers into a prison cell!"

She said that the province was home to several ethnic minority groups, so the communication campaign attached importance to understanding the groups' cultures first.

"Vietnamese children want more information about how to combat human trafficking, as well as how to protect themselves," said An. "We also want to achieve more cooperation to deal with these issues at the regional forum."

At the meeting, the participants are using creative methods to tell their stories, discuss human trafficking and migration, and talk about potential future action plans. Groups of artists will work as co-facilitators to help children prepare their own creative presentations.

According to the organiser, the regional forum aims to institutionalise the participation of children and youth in local, national and regional anti-trafficking programmes.

The forum's results will be discussed by leaders from the region at the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking's official meeting.

Between 2004-09, about 1,600 human trafficking cases were reported, involving 2,900 traffickers and 4,000 victims. Most trafficking victims are women and children.

The forum has been co-organised by the International Labour Organisation, World Vision, Save the Children UK and the UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking./.

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Mekong youth discuss human trafficking

BANGKOK — Five Vietnamese children, together with 25 contemporaries from the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries, are in Bangkok, Thailand for the third Mekong Youth Forum on Human Trafficking and Migration.

The week-long forum aims to inform policy makers and the public about a range of risks children in the region face. Delegates at the forum are also discussing measures to better protect at-risk children and youth from exploitation and trafficking.

Participants from countries, including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, will discuss and share their first-hand experiences with migration or trafficking. The five Vietnamese children were selected by 85 delegates at the National Children's Conference in August.

Nguyen Thi Mai An, 15, from Kon Tum Province, told Viet Nam News before her departure that she and her friends would walk along the border near her home to disseminate information about human trafficking to local residents.

They provided the local children with information about human trafficking and held talks and spread the slogans: "Listen to the children's cry on the other side of borderline" and "Put traffickers into a prison cell!"

She said that the province was home to several ethnic minority groups, so the communication campaign attached importance to understanding the groups' cultures first.

"Vietnamese children want more information about how to combat human trafficking, as well as, how to protect themselves," said An. "We also want to achieve more co-operation with these issues at the regional forum."

At the meeting, the participants are using creative methods to tell their stories, discuss human trafficking and migration, and talk about potential future action plans. Groups of artists will work as co-facilitators to help children prepare their own creative presentations.

According to the organiser, the regional forum aims to institutionalise the participation of children and youth in local, national and regional anti-trafficking programmes.

The forum's results will be discussed by leaders from the region at the Co-ordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking's official meeting.

Between 2004-09, about 1,600 human trafficking cases were reported, involving 2,900 traffickers and 4,000 victims. Most trafficking victims are women and children.

The forum has been co-organised by the International Labour Organisation, World Vision, Save the Children UK and the UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking. — VNS

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Vietnamese children still deprived, says UNICEF

HA NOI — The lives of Vietnamese children have improved remarkably, yet segments of the child and adolescent population continue to live in conditions of deprivation and exclusion while ethnic minorities remain among the poorest in the country.

These were some of the findings of the UNICEF "An analysis of the situation of children in Viet Nam-2010" report, the summary of which was presented in Ha Noi yesterday.

The analysis was carried out between 2008 and 2010 by the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Government and represents an important milestone in documenting, analysing, and understanding the situation of children in the country. The document focused on child survival rates, child development and education, child protection and child participation.

The document, adopting a human rights-based approach, is intended to serve as an up-to-date and comprehensive reference for all stakeholders involved in promoting childhood well being, and supports the development and implementation of policies and strategies to further realise the rights of Vietnamese children, according to Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF Viet Nam Representative.

"The analysis paints a very positive picture for children in Viet Nam. The country's strong economic growth and socio-economic policies have led to major improvements in all areas of children's lives", said Sylwander.

The analysis said that a comprehensive range of national policies, programmes, strategies, decisions and standards have been developed.

Meanwhile, Sylwander empha-sised the challenges that remained. "The single most important message of the situation analysis relates to the need to reduce disparities in outcomes for children. In particular, ethnic minority children, children with disabilities, children affected by HIV and AIDS all continue to suffer from unequal access to social services, threatening their ability to grow into healthy and productive members of Vietnamese society."

According to the analysis, infant and child mortality halved between 1990 and 2006, but disparities persist, with mortality rates being much higher among ethnic minorities, who are very poor and living in remote regions. The overall mortality rate was estimated at 75 per 100,000 in 2008 but remains four times that among ethnic minorities and those in remote rural, mountainous areas.

Significant improvements in recent years related to early childhood care and development have been seen, with primary school enrolment exceeding 90 per cent for all major groups except ethnic minorities, which stands at only 80 per cent.

Ethnic minority children face major obstacles in the attainment of a quality education caused by language barriers. Most of them do not speak Vietnamese when they start school, while their teachers lack skills in ethnic minority languages, the analysis found.

Dang Nam, deputy director of Bureau for Protection and Care of Children under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The analysis had pointed out challenges and difficulties facing Viet Nam in implementing effective programmes that ensure the survival, development and protection of all children in the country. —VNS

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