Mr. Chairman,

1. The Lao PDR aligns itself with the statement made by Indonesia on behalf of the ASEAN.

Mr. Chairman,

2. The adverse impacts of multiple crises ranging from the global pandemic to natural calamities and armed conflicts, have continued to undermine the well-being of children globally, pushing them into more vulnerable and fragile situations. In addition, widening poverty gap, inadequate access to decent healthcare and education services and lack of social protection scheme, all have hindered the efforts to protect children’s rights. It is now more crucial than ever to further enhance our concerted efforts and take urgent actions for inclusive recovery. In this regard, appropriate measures and transformative solutions must be adopted for addressing the existing challenges, by giving particular attention to the promotion and protection of the rights of children at the heart of policy making process at global, regional and national levels.
3. The Lao PDR supports the recommendations reflected in “Our Common Agenda” to achieve child-related Sustainable Development Goals and reshape our world into the one that is truly fits for children and future generations.  

Mr. Chairman,

4. At national level, in response to the ongoing multifaceted challenges, the Lao Government has paid special attention to providing decent social services and emergency assistance for children and vulnerable groups of people including adolescent and girls, children with disabilities at all levels. We aim to create an environment conducive for education sector’s reform and improve quality and standards, ensure equal access to offline and online learning, create e-learning platform and support early childhood education, among others.
5. In health sector, the Government underscores the importance of promoting the right to healthcare for all children, which is guaranteed under the Constitution and other related national laws. To this end, effective measures have been taken in enhancing healthcare services for children through free vaccination and immunization campaigns.
6. Recently, the Lao PDR has successfully conducted the voluntary national review for children and youth consultations by highlighting the importance of policies and actions for sustainable and resilient recovery in the post pandemic period with priorities given to promoting gender equality, children’s rights, environment and biodiversity protection.
7. In addition, several measures have been undertaken to strengthen institutional capacity, developing national plan of action, strategy and policy to promote and protect the rights and interests of all children. In this connection, the National Commission for Mothers and Children (NCAWMC) has been established and the National Plan of Action on Mother and Children (2021-2025) has been adopted, with specific focus on investing in human resource capacity development, strengthening law enforcement mechanism, and implementing international legal instruments related to the protection of children’s rights, as well as launching a nationwide awareness campaign on child protection.
8. The Lao PDR remains fully committed to combatting violence against women and children as one of the top priorities for inclusive social and sustainable development. To provide counseling services, the Counseling Centre for Women and Children has also been set up for in-person and online services to women and children who need immediate assistance and access to justice, including those at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual exploitation.    
9. Early this year, the National Commission for Mothers and Children in cooperation with UNICEF has successfully co-organized a series of children and youth consultations across the country in order to prepare for the 7^th Periodic State Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its two optional protocols to be submitted in 2023.

Mr. Chairman,

10. Despite significant progress, some challenges remain to be further addressed, especially to improve multi-sectoral coordination mechanism for providing better services to all children in the areas of health, education, capacity-building for policy makers, law enforcement officials, data collection and analysis, and ensuring adequate financial support to strengthen climate-resilient measures and infrastructure.
11. The Lao PDR reiterates its commitment to further promote and protect the rights of all children. We stand ready to work with all UN agencies, development partners and other stakeholders in our common endeavour to advance “Our Common Agenda” and attain the 2030 Agenda. Thank you.