Illustrative image (Source: isocert.org.vn) In mid-September, the General Office for Population andFamily Planning under the Ministry of Health issued a dispatch guidingcommunications activities on the day. Accordingly, thisyear, the day in Vietnam will be themed “promoting gender equality contributesto reducing sex imbalance at birth”.
Communications activities have focused on popularising thepolicy and laws of the Party and State regarding gender equality and theprotection of children such as the Law on Gender Equality, the Law on DomesticViolence Prevention and Control, and the Law on Marriage and Family, aiming to enhancepublic awareness of the improvement of role and position of girl child andwomen in general, especially in families with all children being girls.
At the same time, legal regulations banning sex selection byparents and relevant punishments have also been popularised, along with the realsituation, reasons and consequences of sex imbalance at birth, thus improvingthe public awareness and changing outdated perceptions on gender equality.
On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assemblyadopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of theGirl Child, to recognise girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls facearound the world.
The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention onthe need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowermentand the fulfilment of their human rights.
According to the SustainableDevelopment Goals Report 2021, up to 10 million girls will be at risk of childmarriage. The profound effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are putting girls at a higher risk of early marriage due to a combination of economic shocks, schoolclosures and interruptions in reproductive health services.
Girls are primarily victims of sexual exploitation (72% ofdetected girl victims), while boys are mainly subjected to forced labour (66%of detected boy victims), it said./.
VNA
