Date:          Wednesday 5th October 2011
Event:        International Workshop on “Skewed Sex Ratios at Birth: Addressing the Issue and the Way Forward”
Venue:      Thang Long Ballroom, Melia Hotel, Hanoi
Speaker:   Mr. Eamonn Murphy, UN Resident Coordinator a.i. to Viet Nam

Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan
Vice Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien
UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Director Ms Nobuko Horibe
Colleagues from China, India, Republic of South Korea, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Albania, Geneva, and New York
Fellow UN colleagues,
Representatives from the Government of Viet Nam, donor and civil society partners, academic organizations and the media,

Ladies and gentlemen,  

It is a great pleasure to be here with you today. As acting Resident Coordinator, and on behalf of the United Nations in Hanoi, I would like to congratulate the Government of Viet Nam for hosting this critical global meeting.  I would also like to commend the organizers and participants who have worked tirelessly to prepare for these two days of consultation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the governments of the 11 countries who are attending this workshop and their delegations for their great efforts in addressing the SRB imbalance. I have no doubt that the sharing of knowledge and experiences from this diverse group will generate very practical ideas and approaches to address the very sensitive, complex and challenging issue of the imbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth.  

As a direct outcome from this consultation, we imagine a much stronger foundation for South-South cooperation designed to ensure we learn from each other's how best to address this issue across the full spectrum of individual, family, community, institutional and political decision-making.

Although Viet Nam is not the first country to face a Sex Ratio at Birth imbalance – the reality here is that this challenge is significant and the ratio is increasing rapidly. The Sex Ratio at Birth rose from 106.2 boys per 100 girls in 2000 to 111.2 boys per 100 girls in 2010.  

The imbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth will affect Viet Nam’s population structure in the future, resulting in an excess of males in society. The consequences are potentially serious: a scarcity of women would increase pressure for them to marry at a younger age and perhaps drop out of school to do so. There may be a rising demand for sex work; and trafficking networks may also expand in response to this imbalance. Examples of gender-based violence and human trafficking have already been observed in Viet Nam and point to some of the risks faced by vulnerable girls and women.

The Government of Viet Nam is paying special attention to this emerging imbalance. Because pre-natal sex selection is a direct cause of the Sex Ratio at Birth imbalance, this behaviour has been made illegal through regulations of the population ordinance issued in 2003 by the National Assembly Standing Committee as well as in the Government Decree No. 114 issued in October 2006. This was again underlined in the National Strategy on Population and Reproductive for the period 2011-2020. The Government is also implementing a pilot programme to reverse imbalances in 20 provinces with high Sex Ratio at Birth values.

The United Nations supports efforts to curb the existing Sex Ratio at Birth increase, and we believe that Viet Nam is moving in the right direction. At the same time, more comprehensive behavior-change communications to address gender discrimination needs to be carried out involving mass media, civil society, health workers, and other relevant groups.

In addition, more emphasis needs to be placed on promoting the role of women and girls in society, improving their status and realization of their rights. Leaders and Party members play a key role in setting an example and promoting gender-equality messages. It is also important to reinforce the social security scheme for the elderly so that families are not entirely dependent on sons in their old age.

To keep up the momentum toward achieving Millennium Development Goal 3 on gender equality in Viet Nam, efforts need to be dedicated to changing couples’ traditional preference for male children, and to empowering women’s position in the family and society as a whole. More qualitative research is also needed so we can better understand the underlying social and cultural factors behind the Sex Ratio at Birth imbalance. This will, in turn, provide a foundation for improving education activities and other interventions.

Our collective efforts to achieve the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action and the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 must remain a priority. We must join forces to put individual human beings at the very heart of the development process, ensuring universal access to reproductive health and advancing women’s empowerment.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The United Nations in Viet Nam very much appreciates the Government’s leadership and the support of our donor partners. We are committed to continuing our work – in close partnership with the Government, World Bank and other development and civil society partners – to advance the status of women and promote gender equality.  As this imbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth, is being observed as a key indicator to monitor Gender Equality, we prioritize efforts to address this issue in the next UN One Plan 2012 - 2016.
In this regard, we hope to continue to work together with all our national and international colleagues to ensure that Viet Nam moves forward on the road to inclusive, equitable and sustainable development for all.

I look forward to your useful contributions to this workshop, and to hearing the outcomes of today’s discussion.  
Thank you very much.

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