Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, Head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the United Nations. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoài Thanh

HÀ NỘI — Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, Head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, has affirmed ASEAN’s strong commitments in promoting and ensuring the rights of children in both regional and global scales through dialogue, partnership and cooperation, helping to build a future of peace, stability and prosperity.

The diplomat represented the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to address a ceremony in New York on Wednesday (local time) to mark the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which drew representatives from 193 UN member countries, UN agencies, UNICEF as well as activists in the field of child rights.

Quý said that ASEAN has exerted efforts to build a favourable development environment for children and adolescents through many cooperation programmes, such as the regional action plan on the elimination of violence against children, and the ASEAN Children Forum.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on November 20, 1989, becoming the first of its kind approved, representing the commitments of the international community in realising children’s rights to healthcare, education, nutrition, and safe environment without violence, as well as the right to raise their voices and head to the future.

The ceremony was a chance for the member countries to review outcomes in child rights protection over the past three decades, while pointing out challenges and seeking specific orientations and measures to better promote and observe child rights.

Participants also pledged to act for children, while listening to their voices and protecting the dream of each child.

ASEAN comprises 10 member states, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Việt Nam. — VNS