VN joins panel on climate change’s impacts on children’s rights
He highlighted wide-ranging effects of
climate change on ensuring children’s rights in Vietnam, and suggested
developing child-centred policies in climate change adaptation.
It is indispensable to increase public
knowledge and awareness on climate change and its impacts on children as well
as enhance regional and international cooperation in the field, he recommended.
He also mentioned challenges to combat
negative impacts of climate change on children’s rights.
For developing countries, the lack of
resources, and poor infrastructure and forecast capacity made it harder to
adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups,
including children, he said.
The bigger challenge lay in raising
awareness on how climate change hurt children’s rights. Only when adults
fully comprehended how climate change could obstruct the growth of children
would the international community be able to build children-centred climate
change adaptation and mitigation policies, he added.
He shared Vietnam’s experience in
integrating children’s rights into climate change policies as well as
underlined the collaboration between the Vietnamese Government and the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and international partners in building
child-centred strategies to mitigate natural disaster risks.
The same day, Vietnam held an international
workshop to educate children on climate change, with the participation of more
than 100 delegates from the UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc shared
Vietnam’s efforts in building policies and mobilising schools, communication,
families and the whole society to raise awareness of climate change for children.
He stressed the importance of equipping
children with basic knowledge about the environment, climate change, and
necessary skills to mitigate the risks of natural calamities.
He proposed step up international
cooperation in this field, at the regional, inter-regional and global levels
along with the bilateral cooperation among countries.-VNA