01-12-2009 NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong receives a delegate from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. — VNA/VNS Photo Tri Dung
HA NOI — Viet Nam is active in the battle against discrimination and protecting women’s rights that are congruent with the Millennium Goal and the CEDAW convention on gender equality, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong told ASEAN female parliamentarians yesterday.
Trong received delegates from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly who are in Ha Noi for a conference on the role of female members of parliament (MPs) during the lawmaking process.
The NA chairman highly appreciated the conference, which provided a chance for the AIPA members to exchange information and share experiences about improving women’s role in lawmaking and socio-economic activities.
"Fighting to liberate women and protect their rights, as well as implementing gender equality, have become a necessity for every country and is one of the millennium goals that all nations are paying attention to and making efforts to accomplish," Trong said to the AIPA MPs.
Almost all the AIPA parliaments have a high ratio of women participating in the governing bodies. Trong said he hoped the female MPs would uphold their role in their country’s political and socio-economic activities.
Earlier yesterday, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan urged the parliamentarians from the regional countries to co-operate more closely to promote gender issues.
The Vice President in her address at the opening session of the conference yesterday praised the co-operation among the ASEAN member countries in improving the profile of women by approving a series of regional bills that recognise the role that women play in their countries. She told female MPs coming from regional countries that the Party and State of Viet Nam gave significant attention to promoting gender equality and that Vietnamese women have benefited in the political, socio-economic and cultural sectors.
Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Tong Thi Phong said in her speech yesterday that enhancing the role of female MPs in the process of lawmaking was an important goal for every country and had been on the AIPA agenda for many years.
Phong told the conference that Viet Nam had made significant achievements in promoting women’s involvement in the lawmaking process, state management and socio-economic development. She noted that the achievements aimed to reflect the standards present in the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) convention.
"This is highlighted by the number and level of female deputies in the National Assembly, as well as in elected organs at all levels," she said.
Viet Nam, like many other countries in the world and the region, is facing challenges in improving its judicial system, especially in regards to protecting the rights and legal interests of women in production, business, jobs, healthcare and social insurance, according to Phong.
AIPA, which was formed in 1977, aims to contribute to the attainment of the goals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through inter-parliamentary co-operation.
Phong expressed her hope that through the forum, female parliamentarians from AIPA members would compare notes and share their experiences on their role in lawmaking in order to boost mutual understanding. They were also expected to discuss future co-operation plans and to contribute to improving their role and position in political and socio-economic activities, said Phong.
The two-day conference is discussing a variety of relevant issues, and the establishment of a regional co-operation mechanism for female parliamentarians to exchange information and experiences concerning lawmaking and gender equality.
Female MPs from Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Viet Nam were among the participants. The AIPA’s acting general-secretary I Gusti Ayu Darsini, representatives from the UN Development Programme, international organisations and embassies in Ha Noi were also in attendance. — VNS
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