Specifically, the discrepancy in the regulation of the legal age of a child with the CRC makes it difficult for Vietnamese authorities to refer to and deal with different sou[r]
Trang 1LEGAL AGE OF CHILDREN UNDER VIETNAMESE LAW
DEBATES AND PERSPECTIVES
Le Thi Khanh Van
Independent Child Rights Advocates
A/Prof Vu Cong Giao
School of Law, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Abstract
Vietnam has become the first country member in Asia and the second in the world ratifying the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) since 1990 Although Vietnam government has achieved
many progresses in providing better education, care and protection to its children, especially the most
vulnerable children, Vietnamese legal age of children has been a concern to the CRC committee
The concern has been put in the CRC committee’s recommendations thoughout national reporting
processes as requested by CRC, article 44
The first legal paper on children of Vietnam Government namely Law on Children Education, Care
and Protection had been issued in 1991, a year after the CRC ratification made by the government
However, the paper had regulated children as those under 16 years of age while CRC defines
children are those under 18 years of age Having admended in the last two times in 2004 and 2010,
with many debates and disscusions, the legal age of Vietnamese children remained unchanged as
regulated in Vietnam Child Law which has been passed since 2010 by its Parliament Regarding
the CRC recommendations, Vietnam should raise up the legal age of its children up to the CRC
definition in order to acknowlege the involving capacities of the young as well as to better invest in
protecting children, young for the sustainable development of the country.
The paper is to present the case of Vietnam, the debates regarding scientific, legal and practical
perspectives towards children education, care and protection as well as recommendations to the
Government on adjusting the legal age of children in Vietnam as CRC committee requires The
research has been supported by UNICEF in Vietnam and caried out for about 9 months, from
October 2018- June 2019
Keywords: legal age of children, Vietnamese law, Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introduction
Vietnam was the first country in Asia and the second in the world to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in February 1990 Immediately after joining the Convention, Vietnam promulgated the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education in 1991 (amended in 2004 and supplanted by the 2016 Law on Children) This law bears significance and
Trang 2forms the fundamental legal basis for the child protection, care and education in Vietnam, facilitates the physical, intellectual and emotional development of children in Vietnam
However, in addition to new progressive regulations, the 2016 Law on Children still has a controversial provision with regards to the legal age of a child (the age that according to the law is the benchmark or basis to determine if a person is not mature enough/not yet an adult, not eligible to be entitled to the full rights as well as obliged to perform all duties of an adult) Specifically, inheriting provisions from the Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children in 1991 (amended in 2004), the 2016 Law on Children still defines a child as being under 16 years old, while CRC and many other international treaties and agreements relating to children that Vietnam has signed, such as the Convention No 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and Convention No 182 on
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, all define a child as one who is under 18 years old
the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the agency that oversees the CRC implementation) has recommended Vietnam to revise the law and adjust the legal age of a child in alignment with the CRC Still, however, there are different views on this issue among not only National Assembly delegates but also in the society in Vietnam nowadays Besides the support, there are still oppositions
or concerns about the amendment of the Law to adjust the legal age of a child to under 18 according
to the CRC
As the result, the young aged 16 to under 18 years of age in Vietnam have not yet received care and protection as the children under 16 years of age have Many among those 17& 18 years of age have been facing to challenges and encountering difficulties in this development stage of their lives including being in conflict with the laws, dropping out of school, getting married, involving in child labor or being pregnant at early ages…these experiences have negative impacts on the children and might create enormous consequences on the national workforce labor and the sustainable development of the nation This paper has covered main findings from the research report “raising the legal age of children
in Vietnam under 18 years of age”1 and other studies related to the children aged 16&17 in Vietnam The paper covers followings: (1) Debates and perspectives on raising legal age of children in Vietnam; 2) scientific, legal and practical basis for raising the legal age of children in Vietnam in line with CRC; 3) Positives impacts of raising the legal age of children to be in lined with CRC; 4) recommendations
1 Debates on legal age of children in the law of Vietnam
During the public discussion on the draft Law on Child Protection, Care and Education (amended)
on the morning of November 23, 2015, as well as in the media, besides supporting views, there were some objections to adjusting the legal age of a child in Vietnam in line with the CRC provision which may be generalised as follows:
First, Vietnam has laws that regulate the rights of people of full 16 to under 18 who are given
priority over adults such as the Penal Code, Civil Code, Labour Code, Law on Marriage and Family, etc., especially Law on Youth
1 A Prof., Dr Vu Cong Giao , M.A Le Thi Khanh Van , Report “Raising legal age of children in Vietnam to under 18 years of age”, Hanoi, 8/2019.
Trang 3Second, in recent years, school violence and moral degradation among minors in Vietnam have
increased, causing public outrage and concerns for parents There were especially serious cases such as Le Van Luyen Therefore, the adjustment of the child legal age may exacerbate the situation
of minors in conflict with the law as certain children consider themselves exempted from criminal liabilities In order for the 16-18 age group to become better, policies to protect, care for and educate children under the age of 16 should be better implemented Besides, it is necessary to foster and educate minors to become more responsible towards family, society and their own actions Therefore,
it is not necessary to adjust the legal age of a child to under 18
Third, based on some estimation, if the legal age of a child is raised to under 18, the number of
children will increase The current number of staffs working on children’s welfare at fewer than 2.500 does not meet the requirements of child care, protection, and education In addition, an increase in the number of children will reduce resources allocated to each child, resulting in limited child welfare
Fourth, if the legal age of a child is raised to under the age of 18, there will be many laws that
need to be amended, such as the Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Civil Code, Labor Code, Law
on Marriage and Family, etc., to stay consistent with the new definition of a child This is not feasible given the current situation
Fifth, it is not necessary to adjust the child legal age to under 18 because the current definition
of the child does not go against UNCRC According to Article 1 of CRC, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier It is an open provision which allows state members to define specific age limits of children as long as they are under 18 Moreover, although children are defined in Vietnam as under 16, the 2005 Youth Law states that adolescents are from 16 to 30 years of age
Sixth, adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18 will lead to an increase in legal violations,
including crimes against children, such as child rape, abuse, violence, mistreatment, neglect, exploitation of labor and other violations
Seventh, the adjustment of the legal age of a child will lead to violation against or restriction of
the right to employment of children aged 16, 17 as they are viewed child labor
Eighth, if adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18, there will be a part of the Youth Union
who are children; this will be unreasonable as the Youth Union is the preparatory organization for the Communist Party of Vietnam
Ninth, the issue of adjusting the legal age of a child should not be raised as the current
implementation of the Law on Children (for people under 16 years old) is not yet good
Tenth, the issue of adjusting the legal age of a child should not be raised because it is not certain
if children support this idea
Taking into account the following scientific, legal and practical basis will be the rationales contributing to Vietnam government in consideration on raising the legal age of children in Vietnam
to be in line with CRC, article 1
Trang 42 Scientific, legal and practical basis for adjusting the legal age of a child in Vietnam in line with the CRC
2.1.1 Scientific basis
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), minors are people from 10 to 19 years old1 According to a recent WHO study on juvenile health, among 7.2 billion people in the world, there are
3 billion people under 25 years old, accounting for 42% of the world’s population About 1.2 billion
of these young people are from 10 to 19 years old In terms of psychology and physiology, all studies
so far have proved that the juvenile period (10 to 19 years old according to WHO) is a critical period
in the life of each individual
In terms of psychology and physiology, all studies so far have proved that the juvenile period (10 to 19 years old according to WHO) is a critical period in the life of each individual and this
is shown clearly in the incomplete development of the brain Therefore, the first 18 years of individual life is critical period for adults to provide special care, support Together with involving capacity development, children are facing to many challenges in life contributing to increasing their vulnerability The children at this age are vulnerable to be abused and exploited While, policies and law on children protection and education are to provide for children under 16 yeasrs of age only (according to Law on children 2016) It is necessary to raise the legal age of a child, to under 18 years
of age as prescribed in the CRC children aged 16-17 in particular, as they should continue to receive proper attention, support and protection from the State, family, and community to become adults who are both physically and mentally mature
2.2 Legal basis
From International legal view point, Article 1 of UNCRC defines a child as a human being below the age of 18 years aiming to determine the period considered the childhood of a human being, in which 18 years old marks the end of the childhood of a person to reach their adulthood2 This means that individuals of any age under 18, including the age group of 16, 17 are not considered adults Also according to UNICEF, the last paragraph of Article 1: “ unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”3 is to make this provision more prescriptive, it does mean that the state
is allow to be flexible in determining the majority earlier but still have to fulfil CRC definition on the children age limit
UNICEF Implementation Handbook for the CRC explains that the definition of a child in the CRC aims to determine the period considered the childhood of a human being, in which 18 years old marks the end of the childhood of a person to reach their adulthood4 This means that individuals of any age under 18, including the age group of 16, 17 are not considered adults Also according to UNICEF, the
last paragraph of Article 1 is to make this provision more prescriptive, but it does not mean to allow
1 World Health Organization (https://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-decade/section2/page1/recognizing-adolescence html).
2 Rachel Hodgkin and Peter Newell , Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, prepared for UNICEF , revised third edition; p.3 (2007).
3 CRC, Article 1 “For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”.
4 Rachel Hodgkin and Peter Newell, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, prepared for UNICEF by, revised third edition; p.3 (2007).
Trang 5flexibility in determining the end time of a person’s childhood In order words, the last paragraph of Article 1 in CRC totally does not mean the CRC encourages or allows member states to lower the age
of children This is evidenced right in the first paragraph of Article 1 which emphasizes the stipulation that “children are those below the age of 18” for “the purposes of the CRC”2 Instead, countries can only stipulate the age of majority which is below 18 in some areas and for some particular purposes on the condition that such stipulation must be in alignment with general principles of the CRC including the principle of the best interests of the child, the principle of a child’s survival and development to the maximum extent possible and the principle of non-discrimination in ensuring the children’s rights3 The above viewpoint is also confirmed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child - an agency established under the CRC and performing the function of overseein the implementation of this Convention by member states Specifically, General Comment No 4 issued by this Committee in
2003 states clearly that: “Adolescents up to eighteen years old are holders of all the rights enshrined
in the Convention; they are entitled to special protection measures and, according to their evolving capacities, they can progressively exercise their rights.”4 This statement should be understood that: (i) All persons under the age of 18 must be considered as a child (or the legal age of children is under 18); (ii) In some contexts, depending on the level of maturity, children may be entitled to the rights and obligations of adults More particularly, according to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, with regards to child protection matters (e.g the minimum age of employment, the age of criminal responsibility), countries need to stipulate the minimum age as high as possible, however regarding issues where children’s autonomy and enjoyment of civil rights can be promoted, the minimum age can be determined more flexibly based on children’s evolving capacities and needs5
In another light, in Vietnam, there is a viewpoint that the discrepancy in the legal age of children
between Vietnam’s 2016 Law on Children and CRC is considered acceptable if, under Vietnamese law, majority is attained earlier than the age of 18 as stipulated in Article 1 of the CRC This viewpoint comes from the understanding of the phrase unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier in Article 1 of the CRC that the legal age of a child must be consistent with the legal
age of the minor under national law This understanding is not yet accurate (as demonstrated above,
the CRC does not imply allowing member states to define the legal age of children different from the age set in Article 1 of the Convention) And even this viewpoint is not strong enough to support
the disparity in the legal age of children between Vietnamese law and CRC, because after reviewing the Vietnamese legal system, the research team shared the views of many interviewed experts and
managers that, under the Vietnamese laws, a minor is defined as a person under the age of 18
From the national legal framework, Vietnam (the Civil Code) the age when a person is considered
an adult in Vietnamese law is now defined as from 18 and those under 18 years of age considered
a Minor Therefore, the definition on children (under 16) in Child Law 2016 and the definition on children of CRC, Article 1 is not consistent as the majority in Vietnam legal system is under 18
1 UNICEF, works cited, p.3 (2007).
2 UNICEF works cited, p.5 (2007).
3 UNICEF works cited, p.5 (2007).
4 CRC/GC/Committee on Children’s Rights, General Comment No 4 on “Adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, (/4, para 1) (2003).
5 UNICEF, works cited, p.5 (2007).
Trang 6Moreover, the definition of children and the minor are not consistent, although the two concept is addressing one group of people who is not yet psychologically and physically develops and yet not yet be able to have full civil legal capacity as the maturity does
Being the first country in Asia and the second country in the world to ratify the CRC1, as a general rule regarding international treaties, Vietnam has a binding legal duty to comply with the Convention Such duty applies to all provisions of the CRC, including Article 1 on the legal age of a child (because Vietnam has signed the Convention without reserving any provision)
In terms of the relationship between international and national legislation, under the current Law
on Treaties, enacted by the National Assembly of Vietnam on April 9, 2016, Clause 1 Article 6 stated:
“Where legal documents and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member contain different provisions on the same issue, the provisions of such international treaties shall be applied, except for the Constitution” In the case of the legal age of children, if the Constitution
of Vietnam does not stipulate this matter, in principle, the provision of Article 1 of the CRC shall be applied even if that provision is inconsistent with the provisions of Vietnam’s Law on Children Referring to Clause 1 Article 6, the 2016 Law on Treaties, the discrepancy in the provision on the legal age of children in the Vietnam’s 2016 Law on Children and CRC is only considered acceptable
if the Vietnamese Constitution provides that a child is a person under the age of 16 (as prescribed
by the 2016 Law on Children) However, the current 2013 Constitution (and previous Vietnamese Constitutions in 1946, 1959, 1992) do not provide a definition of a child Vietnamese
constitution-makers have so far left the concept of a child to law-constitution-makers It means that according to the principle
of priority to apply international law prescribed in Clause 1 Article 6 of the Law on Treaties, Vietnam needs to apply the provisions on the legal age of children stipulated in Article 1 CRC creating the
consistency between Constitution and other national legal papers
As previously mentioned, Article 1, CRC defines a child as a person under the age of 18, whereas, Article 1, the 2016 Law on Children defines a child as a person under the age of 162 As such, there is
a difference (discrepancy) in the legal age of a child between the CRC and Vietnamese law
In terms of the relationship between international and national legislation, under the current Law
on Treaties, enacted by the National Assembly of Vietnam on April 9, 2016, Clause 1 Article 6 stated:
“Where legal documents and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member contain different provisions on the same issue, the provisions of such international treaties shall be applied, except for the Constitution” In the case of the legal age of children, if the Constitution
of Vietnam does not stipulate this matter, in principle, the provision of Article 1 of the CRC shall be applied even if that provision is inconsistent with the provisions of Vietnam’s Law on Children
In another light, in Vietnam, there is a viewpoint that the discrepancy in the legal age of children
between Vietnam’s 2016 Law on Children and CRC is considered acceptable if, under Vietnamese law, majority is attained earlier than the age of 18 as stipulated in Article 1 of the CRC This viewpoint comes from the understanding of the phrase unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier in Article 1 of the CRC that the legal age of a child must be consistent with the legal
age of the minor under national law This understanding is not yet accurate (as demonstrated above,
1 Vietnam signed the CRC on January 26, 1990, approved on February 28, 1990 without reserving any provision (https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=192&Lang=EN) 1990.
2 Law on Children (2016).
Trang 7the CRC does not imply allowing member states to define the legal age of children different from the age set in Article 1 of the Convention) And even this viewpoint is not strong enough to support
the disparity in the legal age of children between Vietnamese law and CRC, because after reviewing the Vietnamese legal system, the research team shared the views of many interviewed experts and
managers that, under the Vietnamese laws, a minor is defined as a person under the age of 18
2.3.Practical basis
People aged 16-17 are considered to be in the transitional phase from children to adults At this phase, they go through many psychological and physiological changes while still being immature in terms
of awareness; therefore, they need sufficient and proper attention, care and support and manage risks, eliminate their vulnerabilities and also know to access necessary services to develop their potentials fully
The challenges the people aged 16&17 facing are the following:
According the the source of data by the General Statistics Office1, in 2018 total population of Vietnam reaches 94.700.000, among those children (under 16) is 23.817.000 accounting for 25,1%, those are under
18 years of age is 26.550.000 accounting for 28.1% Therefore, the population of those 16 to under 18 years of age is about 2.700.000 The challenges they face are significant for policy making
In fact, in Vietnam, like other countries in the world, this age group is still in the process of development and is not yet mature meanwhile, current policies on child protection and care in Vietnam mainly targets on children under 16 years old (according to the provisions of the 2016 Law
on Children) Consequently, many children aged 16-17 years, due to lack of appropriate support, are
at risk of not being properly instructed and protected According to current studies, the most likely risks they are facing are included:
Risk 1: Children aged 16 and 17 have a higher tendency to be in conflict of the law than children
at a younger age, and one of the most likely cause of that is2 over 70% of the cases are lacking care and attention of adults, parents, nurturers
Source: Data of the Department of Administrative Management of Social Security,
General Department of Police, 6 months 2017)
1 Niên giám thống kê 2018 (https://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=512&idmid=5&ItemID=19298) 2018.
2 Trịnh Kim Ngọc,Tình trạng gia tăng tội phạm ở những người tuổi vị thành niên - một cảnh báo cấp thiết về phát triển
bền vững xã hội ở nước ta, Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Con người, số 65 (số 2/2013) (2013).
Nguyễn Tú, Tỷ lệ giới trẻ bị TNGN có xu hướng tăng (https://thanhnien.vn/gioi-tre/ty-le-gioi-tre-bi-tngt-co-xu-huong-tang-940433.html) 10 March 2018.
Trang 8Risk 2: While the number of traffic accidents tends to decrease, the proportion of accidents
involving young people increases, accounting for nearly 40% of the annual accidents1
Risk 3: The situation of pregnancy and abortion among adolescents is also a serious risk: According
to data from the Institute of Reproductive Health and Family, Vietnam is a country with high abortion rates at 70% of which is in adolescence The most related cause is that limited education, counseling
on reproductive health, and gender knowledge organised for children According to psychologists
at puberty, children have many psychological and physiological changes, love and sexual instincts also begin to rise, so the need for sex with the opposite sex appear at this age However, access to mainstream sources of information on sexual and reproductive health for minors is limited Their parents often shy away when they ask or mention reproductive health issues The school also rarely talks about reproductive health education, the classes and clubs that organize propaganda on this issue are also very lacking, so they do not have formal information channels to learn on this issue
Risk 4: Mental health issues: A recent research report (2018) on Mental and psychosocial health of
children and young people in some provinces and cities in Vietnam conducted by the Institute Research and Development (ODI) under the cooperation program between UNICEF Vietnam and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has shown that mental health and psychosocial issues are increasing
in Vietnam, especially in Vietnam, especially in adolescents, which manifests itself in ways such as social isolation, anxiety, sadness, anxiety, depression, feelings of hopelessness and in some cases suicide2 The report also outlines the factors contributing to protecting the mental health of adolescents, including an integrated family environment, good social networks and friends, supportive teachers and role models to follow; The family has a good socio-economic background as well as the availability of psychosocial services3 The report also recommends that raising awareness at all levels on social and psychological health for children and adolescents, at the same time, completing policy frameworks, allocating appropriate budget and increasing collaboration between departments in this regard4
Risk 5: The situation of people under 18 being abused is increasingly worrying, according to
the Department of Children, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, an average of 2,000 cases children abused or violated reported every year In 2018, there were 1,547 cases of child abuse across the country with the involvement of 1,700 person and 1,579 children were the victims, among those 1,293 who were sexually abused5
Risk 6: The situation of child labor, as of 20126, the whole country had about 1.75 million child laborers (from 5 to 17 years old), accounting for 9.6% of the child population, accounting for that proportion Child labor aged 15-17 is the highest, accounting for 58%
1 Nguyễn Tú, Tỷ lệ giới trẻ bị TNGN có xu hướng tăng (https://thanhnien.vn/gioi-tre/ty-le-gioi-tre-bi-tngt-co-xu-huong-tang-940433.html) 10 March 2018.
2 UNICEF Vietnam Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing among children and young people in Viet Nam:
(https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/media/1016/file/B%C3%A1o%20c%C3%A1o%20t%C3%B3m%20 t%E1%BA%AFt.pdf, p.4) (2018).
3 UNICEF Vietnam, tài liệu đã dẫn, (2018).
4 UNICEF Vietnamtài liệu đã dẫn, (2018).
5 Đức Bình, Gần 70% trẻ em Việt Nam bị bạo hành, xâm hại (https://tuoitre.vn/gan-70-tre-em-viet-nam-tung-bi-bao-hanh-xam-hai-20190418102323645.htm) 18 April 2019.
6 Báo cáo điều tra lao động trẻ em quốc gia năm 2012.
Trang 9Risk 7: The problem of alcoholism, beer, tobacco, stimulants is very worrying, but we do not
have specific and clear statistics on this subject
Regarding the issue of alcohol: According to a WHO study, Vietnam is one of the countries with high alcohol consumption, the average consumption is 8.3 liters of pure alcohol per capita in
2016 Vietnam ranked second in countries in Southeast Asia, ranked No 3 in Asia and ranked 64 in the world1 According to the student health survey, Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, 2013, (from grades 8-12) in 2013, 43.8% had their first drink of beer before age 14 and 22.5% have been drunk at least once2 Scientific evidence has proven that the human brain thrives during adolescence and is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol on cognition, memory, behavior and the risk of dependence, future abuse of alcohol and other stimulants3
3 Positive impacts from raising legal age of children in Vietnam to be in line with CRC
Adjusting the legal age of a child in Vietnam in line with the CRC has signinficant postive impact
on many aspects, for many target audiences from diffirenct angles
The first and foremost positive impact of adjusting the legal age of a child in Vietnam in line with the CRC is on the group of children aged 16-17 years By adjusting the age of children, children aged 16-17 will have many opportunities to be protected, cared for and educated like children under
16 years old The coverage of benefits for children under 16 years of age in the 2016 Child Law is broader than the support provisions for 16-17 year old groups mentioned in the Youth Law and the implementation decree of the Youth Law For example, the Child Law ensures that children have priority access to health care and treatment, protected by three levels of child protection services if neglected, abused, violated and exploitation or otherwise without a parent or caretaker as well as legal assistance if involved in the proceeding, prosecution or reformatory setting These safeguards and support are important to enable children to develop their full potential
Secondly, adjusting the legal age of Vietnamese children to align with the regulations of the CRC will create the consistency in the definition of a child as a person who has not reached the adult age, which can also be understood that a “child” is not yet an adult and this definitely create positive impact on state management on children right implementation Currently, Vietnam has different regulations on children (under 16 years of age), minor (under 18 years of age), adult (18 years and above) The minor is not considered as a child, not entitled to be and adult and eligible to adult rights and responsibility as regulated in the the law Therefore, the state management in some sectors has been encountering challenges For example, MOLISA is in charge of state management on those under 16 years of age and is considered to be the “Spokesperson” on all matters related to children under 16 including the statistics Similarly, Internal Ministry is in charge of state management on youth who are 16 to under 30 years of age, including the age group 16&17 However, the Internal Ministry has not local state management Thus, the matters related to the state management towards this age group is very loose and hardly ensure these group’s right implementation This has been a
1 WHO, Total consumption, projected estimates for 2016 by country, Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) (2016a),
2 Cục Y tế dự phòng- Bộ Y tế, Điều tra sức khoẻ trong trường học năm 2013.
3 Australian Drug Foundation (https://www.education.vic.gov.au/documents/school/teachers/health/factsheet12011 pdf).
Trang 10challenge to MOLISA as well as soon as there is a request on children statistics in accordance to the international standard
Lastly, adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18 will promote international cooperation Specifically, the discrepancy in the regulation of the legal age of a child with the CRC makes it difficult for Vietnamese authorities to refer to and deal with different sources of documents and data on children and minors when reporting the CRC implementation as well as other human righs conventions Vietnam has ractified (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, viết tắt là CEDAW; Convention on the rights of People with Disabilities; Convention
on Political and Civil rights) and specificaly the Millinium Sustanable Goals of United Nations such
as violence against children prevention, child trafficking prevention, child marriage, child labor Therefore, adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18 will help effectively eliminate the abstacle in international relation and cooperation for child care and protection in Vietnam
3.1 Positive impacts on children aged 16-17
The first and foremost positive impact of adjusting the legal age of a child in Vietnam in line with the CRC is on the group of more than 2.7 million children aged 16-17 years, especially for disadvantaged children aged 16-17 From the rights-based approach perspective, these children will
be fully entitled to the rights and support offered by the State through of policies and programmes currently only for children under 16, including policies on education, healthcare, social welfare, etc., going beyond the level of general rules like the Youth Law The State support will help them to develop fully physically and mentally, enabling them to become high-quality workers for the country For other children aged 16-17, even though they may not be eligible for to social welfare programmes and policies like their disadvantaged peers, they are still eligible for even better protection and care from the State, family and community The reason is that adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18 will improve the perception of the subjects who protect, care for and educate children aged 16-17 Parents, schools, communities and government agencies will be more aware of taking actions
to protect, care for and educate children aged 16-17 Children in this age group have the opportunity
to be protected, and secured all the rights In general, adjusting the legal age of a child to under 18 will create a legal and social environment to effectively ensure the rights and interests of children aged 16-17
Currently, the Law on Children defines children as persons under 16 years old, while the Civil Code regulates the age of majority as 18, making the 16, 17-year-old group in Vietnam not yet entitled
to children’s rights, while they also have no rights and obligations of adults Adjusting the legal age
of children to under 18 will overcome that “inconclusive situation”, contributing to helping millions
of children in the 16, 17-year-old group in Vietnam enjoy protection and support until the age of maturity
In this regard, as analysed, the international community has acknowledged that a person under the age of 18 is still in his childhood- characterised by inadequate development and inability to bear complete responsibility for himself/ herself, so 16-17-year-old children still need special attention from the State, society and family Also from the rights-based approach perspective, the adjustment of the child legal age to under 18 helps children aged 16, 17 better exercise the four rights (to survival,
to protection, to development and to participation) per CRC