Illustrative image. Students read books at a mobile library in the central province of Quảng Trị’s Hướng Hóa District. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Thủy

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has called on strengthening measures to ensure the enforcement of the rights of children and child protection.

Under Decree No.23/CT-TTg signed on Tuesday, the PM asked ministries, agencies and people’s committees at all levels to strictly enforce legal regulations on children, regularly review and fine-tune related policies and regulations and raise public awareness of child protection policies and laws.

Heads of agencies and local authorities must be responsible for child deaths due to injuries, serious violations of children’s rights, and violence and sex abuse targeting children that happen within fields and areas under their jurisdiction, or for not promptly dealing with children’s rights violations.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was assigned to review and amend laws and policies on social assistance for children living in especially disadvantaged situations, while collecting children’s feedback during the process of building relevant policies and programmes.

The Ministry was also tasked with building a national action programme for children and a programme on child labour prevention and mitigation.

It must also regularly inspect the enforcement of children's rights as well as policies and laws on the prevention of child abuse.

The Ministry of Health was required to take actions to reduce and prevent malnutrition among children aged under 5, particularly those in remote and ethnic minority regions.

The Ministry of Education and Training must work to prevent dropouts, violence, abuse and accidents at schools, improve the supply of clean water and safe food at educational establishments as well as the capacity and professional ethics of teachers.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must prevent child sex abuse and violence, especially in entertainment areas in poor communes while the Ministry of Public Security must combat child trafficking, and step up investigation and strictly deal with cases involving child abuse.

People’s committees of centrally-run cities and provinces were instructed to allocate sufficient funding to ensure the enforcement of children’s rights and protection. — VNS