Children raise voice to end mental, physical punishments against them

A dialogue discussing the voice of children and relevant parties in promoting children’s rights and putting an end to mental and physical punishments against children was held in Hanoi on November 10.

At the event, participating children presented proposals and messages to promote their rights and stop all types of mental and physical punishments against children.

They expressed their hope that policymaking agencies make more detailed regulations and popularize legal measures against those punishing children mentally and physically, advise schools to educate children more on the issue and encourage them to raise their voice.

The participating children also proposed schools reduce achievement pressure on teachers, so they won’t transfer the pressure to children, and organising more training courses on emotion management and student management for teachers.

They wished parents not to put learning and examination pressures on children, and talk to them more to create mutual understanding.

Speaking at the dialogue, deputy head of the Children Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Nga said that through different channels such as forums, dialogues, conferences and surveys, the voice of children has been conveyed to high-ranking leaders. The prevention and control of child abuse has been chosen as an issue for supreme supervision by the National Assembly over the past two years.

However, there remain a lot of challenges in child protection work, she said, adding that violence, sexual abuse and abuse of children on cyberspace still exist and over 1 million children aged from 5-17 are working nationwide./.