Da Lat city, 28 September 2020 - The dissemination workshop on the Youth Law 2020 was today in Dalat city, Lam Dong province. The workshop was co-chaired by Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Vice Minister of Home Affairs and Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam.

The revised Youth Law 2020 creates a legal enabling environment for Provincial People’s Committees, line Ministries, and youth organizations to address youth development issues within their assigned technical functions and responsibilities at the local level.

It also highlights the critical role of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the national and provincial levels in implementing the Youth Law as well as youth-related initiatives and activities with the objective of achieving Viet Nam’s social-economic development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Addressing the workshop, Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Vice Minister of Home Affairs said: “Currently, Vietnamese youth, accounting for 24.6% of the total population, are a huge social force, making an important contribution to the cause of national construction and defense. Our Party and State always appreciate the great importance role of young people. Youth are the important pillar of the nation, and future owners of the country. Youth development is both the goal and the driving force to ensure the stability and sustainable development of the country."

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyet, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children emphasized: “For the Youth Law to be really practical and effective, it requires the Government ministries and agencies, other related organizations to quickly provide guidance on the implementation of the Law. In the coming time, the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children will coordinate with National Assembly’s committees and delegations, National Assemblys members, and People's Councils at all levels to strengthen supervision of the implementation of the Youth Law.”

On behalf of the UNFPA in Viet Nam, Ms. Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative highly appreciated the political will and commitment on youth affairs of the Communist Party and the Government of Viet Nam at all levels, and stressed that “We must work firmly together to ensure the linkage between the approved Youth Law and its implementation."

Viet Nam is going through a demographic transition, with the largest population of young people ever in Viet Nam’s history, and this is a very unique opportunity to tap into the demographic dividend. Strategic investment has to be made now in young people to maximize socio-economic growth of the country, particularly under the current Covid-19 context.

“We know that young people are not homogenous. There is not one solution that fits all. Therefore, provinces need to try to cater for specific needs of diverse sub-groups of the youth population, such as youth with disabilities, ethnic minority youth, young migrant workers, women and girls, and LGBTI youth,” added Ms. Kitahara.

UNFPA is fully committed to supporting the Government of Viet Nam at all levels to ensure that the potential of Vietnamese young people is fully fulfilled.