Executive Committee of Journalists’ Club for Protection of Children’s Rights makes debut

The Executive Committee of Journalists’ Club for Protection of Children’s Rights made its debut at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on July 18 by the Viet Nam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, as part of a series of events in response to World Drowning Prevention Day (July 25).

Representatives of the newly-established Executive Committee of the Journalists’ Club for the Protection of Children's Rights pose for a photo at the event. (Photo courtesy of the organisers)
Representatives of the newly-established Executive Committee of the Journalists’ Club for the Protection of Children's Rights pose for a photo at the event. (Photo courtesy of the organisers)

The event was attended by nearly 50 delegates, including club members and invited guests such as representatives of the Viet Nam Journalists Association, as well as journalists and reporters working at various media and press organisations in Ha Noi.

The Executive Committee of the Journalists’ Club for the Protection of Children's Rights consists of seven members: one Chairperson, six Vice-Chairpersons and one Secretary.

With the motto of “Uniting Hearts - Uniting Minds - Uniting Efforts", the launch of the club aims to protect the rights of Vietnamese children and continue to mobilise the participation and coordination of journalists and media staff in the protection, care and education of children...

In her opening speech, President of the Viet Nam Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa affirmed: Children are the future of the country, they are the young buds that need to be cared for and protected for comprehensive development. The Party and State always pay special and deep attention to the work of protecting, caring for and educating children.

In the current context, when children face many risks from the living environment, from the negative impacts of the dark side of society and even in cyberspace, the role of the press in protecting children’s rights becomes more urgent than ever, Hoa noted, expressing her hope that the activities of the Journalists’ Club for Protection of Children’s Rights will be improved with many valuable press works about children, in order to mobilise the whole society to join hands to implement and protect children’s rights...

19-7-ba-thanh-hoa.jpg
President of the Viet Nam Association for the Protection of Children's Rights Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa speaks at the ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the organisers)

In his speech, Deputy Chief of Office of the Viet Nam Journalists Association Tran Hong Quan emphasised that the press needs to actively promote, encourage, and replicate examples of good people and good deeds in the work of protecting, caring for, and educating children; effective models, inspirational stories about children’s rise. “Using positivity to push back negativity is our motto”, he said.

At the same time, the press plays an important role in building healthy public opinion, creating consensus and mobilising the combined strength of the community to protect children; helping the public to have a comprehensive awareness of issues related to children, thereby taking action to create a safe and loving environment for them, he noted.

The Viet Nam Journalists Association believed that the Journalists’ Club for Protection of Children’s Rights will uphold its role, becoming an effective extension of the Viet Nam Journalists Association and the whole society in the work of protecting, caring for and educating the future generations of the country, Quan said.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Chairman of Journalists’ Club for Protection of Children’s Rights Nguyen Manh Huy who is also Editor-in-Chief of Viet Nam Children’s Magazine, said: With the participation of dedicated journalists with deep expertise in the field of child protection, the Club will focus on activities to improve professional expertise and ethics, constantly learn and cultivate knowledge about the law, child psychology, investigative skills, and exploit sensitive information in a humane and professional manner, ensuring no further harm to children.

At the same time, the club will proactively coordinate closely with state management agencies, social organisations, experts, especially with families and communities to form a solid network to protect children. In particular, in the digital age, club members need to make the most of new media platforms, typically social networks, to spread messages, reach more widely to the public, especially parents and children themselves, proactively fight against false and harmful information on cyberspace that affects children.

19-7-chi-huyen.jpg
Doan Thu Huyen, Country Director of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the US in Viet Nam shares experiences in implementing the drowning prevention programme for Vietnamese children. (Photo courtesy of the organisers)

At the event, members of the club discussed with guest speakers on the topic of media and child drowning prevention, in recognition of World Drowning Prevention Day (July 25, 2025).

Delegates heard from Duong Khanh Van, a technical officer from the World Health Organisation (WHO), who presented statistics on child drowning and the significance of the global day for drowning prevention. According to her, the first-ever Global status report on drowning prevention reveals the scale of global drowning deaths, and progress made in advancing strategies and actions to reduce drowning around the world. The report shows that the rate of deaths from drowning dropped by 38% between the year 2000 and 2021. Yet drowning remains a major public health issue, with more than 300 000 deaths in 2021.

Drowning predominately impacts children and young people and more than nine in ten deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, she said, adding that the report presents a benchmark against which to track drowning prevention progress over time – at global, regional and national levels - and to galvanise meaningful multisectoral collaboration within governments, organisations, societies and across the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Dang Hoa Nam, Vice President of the Viet Nam Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights, Former Director of the Department of Children, emphasised the role of the press in promoting communications to raise society’s interest and awareness of child drowning prevention. The press needs to have effective policy directions to increase action, focusing on strategies related to inter-sectoral coordination; communication strategies; developing a national plan for waterway safety; researching and collecting data, creating a safe environment for children.

19-7-daibieu.jpg
The delegates pose for a group photo at the event. (Photo courtesy of the organisers)

In her speech, Doan Thu Huyen, Country Director of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the US in Viet Nam shared experiences in implementing the drowning prevention programme for Vietnamese children since 2017. Huyen pointed out the current situation of drowning in Vietnamese children in recent times and also proposed many effective solutions to address this situation. In which she especially emphasised the model of “Safe swimming - Vaccine to prevent drowning for children”. With only about 30 USD for instructors, supervisors, organisations, swimming pool infrastructure; a child can be completely equipped with safe swimming skills to protect themselves, thereby significantly reducing the risk of death caused by drowning.

Huyen also emphasised the encouraging results in the process of implementing the programme in Viet Nam: 2,250 staff were trained to improve their capacity in child drowning prevention; 908 instructors were trained in safe swimming; 1,096 instructors were trained in safety skills; 52,204 children aged 6-15 were taught safe swimming; 52,250 children aged 6-15 were taught safety skills; 30,204 parents, caregivers, preschool teachers were instructed in drowning prevention among children.

At the event, Nguyen Thi Phuong, a representative from Le Group of Companies, also highlighted the role of integrated communications in child drowning prevention. Phuong shared her experience in cooperating with State/Government press agencies to organise programmes on child drowning prevention; organising sharing sessions, providing information related to child drowning prevention for media units/journalists; participating and presenting at international conferences to share results, models and implementation experiences in Viet Nam; update information, research, impacts and lessons on international press channels, specialised websites and blogs of the organisation to spread experiences and attract global support.

Back to top