UNFPA Representative for Vietnam Ms. Naomi Kitahara confirmed UNFPA’s commitments at her courtesy meeting with Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, the newly elected Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Adolescents and Youth, in Hanoi on 11 June 2021.

Ms. Naomi Kitahara congratulate Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, for the appointment as the new Chair of the Committee for Culture, Education, Adolescents and Youth of the National Assembly. She confirmed that the United Nations in Viet Nam acknowledges the effort of the Government in providing adolescents and youth with opportunities to develop, participate in and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. The Revised Youth Law, which was approved last year, promotes the rights and responsibilities of young people as well as state obligations to realize those rights, indicating the high political will and commitment to youth development issues in Vietnam.

Ms. Naomi Kitahara pointed out that the Youth Law was particularly timely to address ongoing gaps in the needs of young people. UNFPA has been providing technical and financial support for Viet Nam to put in place the legal and policy mechanism, which is in line with the principles of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). And these include the right of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number, timing and spacing of children. UNFPA is willing to work very closely with the Chairman and his Committee in this regard, for the population-related agenda of the National Assembly.

Ms. Naomi Kitahara shared with the Chairman that in the coming five years, UNFPA plans to continue to provide support in the areas of youth development, SRHR, data, ageing, and gender and gender-based violence.

Regarding youth issues, Ms. Naomi Kitahara said: “UNFPA’s support will be focused on providing information and services in sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people, which includes a nation-wide roll-out of comprehensive sexuality education and life-skill education for in and out-of-school youth as well as young people with disabilities; delivering services in SRHR for youth, as part of the essential health care for women at reproductive age; and expanding mechanisms/platforms for dialogue between policy/decision makers and young people, particularly vulnerable youth such as ethnic minorities, migrant workers, and young people with disabilities.”

“Other priorities of UNFPA Vietnam include building capacity for young people on their effective participation in dialogue sessions at national and sub-national levels; improving partnership with youth-led organizations, especially those led by vulnerable youth, in the implementation and management of the Youth Law as well as its national and provincial implementation plans and for humanitarian action; promoting and advocating for young people in decision-making positions; and monitoring youth development through data generation and the use of National Youth Development Indicators.”, said Ms Naomi Kitahara.

For his part, Chairman Nguyen Dac Vinh acknowledged UNFPA’s projects to support the Vietnamese youth as well as the National Assembly’s Committee of Culture, Education and Adolescents and Youth over the past years. Commented on UNFPA’s focus on the youth issues, Chairman Vinh said: “We share some common interest in supporting youth development in Vietnam and therefore, I hope we will have more meetings and discussions on areas of cooperation in the future. We commit to working with UNFPA in a more effective and practical manner.”