Lao NEWS on LNTV: EU recognises the challenges on child rights.17/12/2014

Описание: VO EU recognises the challenges on child rights. Despite positive changes in key indicators
INTRO: EU recognises the challenges on child rights. Despite positive changes in key indicators such as infant mortality and rising school enrolments, people should not forget that many of the country's children are still not able to fully exercise their rights.
STORY: Ambassadors from the European Union reiterated this message at a conference this week to commemorate 66 years of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and to mark the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They said, this is true all over the world. The convention recognises the individual human rights of all our children. Even if they are too young to realise this, it is our duty to ensure their rights.
EU Chargé d`Affaires, Michel Goffin said Laos had signed the convention recognising this, so it is important to realise that like every signatory, the country has a duty to ensure rights were upheld for all children.
German Ambassador, Michael Grau said to continue to address rights of the child and challenges faced, Laos and EU member states would focus on addressing socio-economic challenges faced by children touching on rights related to nutrition, healthcare and education. He added that the EU would invest quite a lot of money to help Laos to improve nutrition and basic education.
French Ambassador, Yves Carmona said, Access to education is one of the challenges facing children in the country, so the EU and the French governments would try to implement activities together. He said, the country's under age and unwanted pregnancy rates remain high, therefore it is necessary to improve education on sex, safe sex practices and family planning.
The European ambassadors also welcomed efforts by the Lao government made last October to recognise the important contribution of civil society organisations to the nation's development.
After the conference the EU also handed over prizes to school kids in Vientiane who entered a drawing competition on the topic of child rights.
With Laos due to present its second report to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) Universal Periodic Review in January 2015, the European Ambassadors have encouraged the government to reaffirm its commitment to improve the situation on rights in the country and to commit itself to addressing recommendations.