CRC/C/VNM/CO/3-4 4. The Committee welcomes the State party’s ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption in 2011. 5. The Committee welcomes the withdrawal of the reservation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography on article 5, paragraphs 1–4, made upon ratification by the State party. 6. The Committee also welcomes the introduction of various child-related national goal programmes and institutional and policy measures, in particular the following: (a) National Programme of Action for Vietnamese Children for 2011-2020; (b) National Programme on Poverty Reduction for 2011-2020; (c) Socioeconomic Development Plan for 2011-2015 and the Socioeconomic Development Strategy for 2011-2020; (d) National Programme on Child Protection for 2011-2015. III. Main areas of concern and recommendations A. General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6, of the Convention) The Committee’s previous recommendations 7. The Committee welcomes efforts by the State party to implement the Committee’s concluding observations of 2003 on the State party’s previous report (CRC/C/15/Add.200), as well as the Committee’s concluding observations of 2006 on the initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/VNM/CO/1) and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/VNM/CO/1). However, the Committee regrets that a number of its concerns and recommendations have been insufficiently addressed. 8. The Committee urges the State party to take all necessary measures to address the recommendations that have not been implemented or that have been insufficiently implemented, including those relating to legislation, coordination, allocation of resources, independent monitoring, widespread and systematic training on the Convention, non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to an identity, education and health, and juvenile justice, and to provide adequate follow-up to the recommendations contained in the present concluding observations. Legislation 9. The Committee notes with appreciation the adoption of the 2004 Law on the Protection, Care and Education of Children, as well as the State party’s efforts to harmonize the domestic legislation with the Convention. The Committee however remains concerned that not all laws conform to the Convention, in particular as regards the definition of the child and juvenile justice, as well as about the slow pace of progress of the legal reform. The Committee is also concerned about the inadequacies in the coherence of all child rights-related legislation, as well as about the inadequate resources allocated for the implementation of such legislation. 10. The Committee recommends that the State party continue to amend its national legislation with a view to bringing it into full compliance with the Convention. Particular attention should be given to the definition of the child and 2

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