(VOVworld)- The National Children’s Forum opened on Thursday in Hanoi to gather comments on the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education. Co-organized by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the National Assembly Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children, this year’s event gathers 180 teenagers from dozens of provinces and cities. They discuss issues relating to life safety and entertainment for children, and look at measures to prevent child abuse, child marriage and child labour, and to ensure the right to education for HIV-infected children and those with disabilities, among others. Doan Mau Diep is Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs: “We hope that the participating children will be goodwill ambassadors conveying the messages of the forums to their peers so that we can better implement the rights of the child”.

Nguyen Tran Dang Khoa is a child representative from Ho Chi Minh City: “I hope to raise children’s voices in revising this law. I really hope that the drafting committee will consider raising the age of the children from birth to 18 instead of to 16 to match with the global trend”

Children’s recommendations at the forum will be studied by the Drafting Committee for Revising the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education and other policy makers.