Eight - Family and Social Groups of the Population

41. The policy related to the family and social groups of the population will be aimed at implementing ideas set forth in the Constitution of Mongolia as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Nairobi Strategies for the Improvement of the Status of Women, the Vienna Plan of Action concerning the Elderly, Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, the documents of the Cairo Conference on the Population and Development, the Copenhagen World Submit on Social Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women Conference in Beijing and other UN fora.

42. As the family is the primary environment of a person's life and the basic unit of society, its development shall be a policy issue.
43. The Population Policy shall uphold the preservation, revival and continuation of the progressive heritage of the traditional culture within the family.
44. The Government shall support any honest initiatives and activities by the family aimed at increasing it's capacity for independent economic development and augmenting its property.
45. Social services for the family shall support any honest initiatives and activities by the family aimed at increasing it's capacity for independent economic development and augmenting its property.
46. Government policies will be aimed at promoting male responsibility for and participation in the development of the family, ensuring equality of family members and eliminating all manifestations of discrimination, abuse and violence.
47. Propaganda of violence, pornography and other inhuman and indecent activities shall be viewed as inimical to family values and contrary to the Mongolian tradition and culture.

Proceeding from the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international documents concerning children, as well as the Constitution of Mongolia, the policy, aimed at protecting and developing children, the main resource and force of the country's future development, and at creating conditions to their health, education and life is formulated to include the following directions.

48. Conditions will be created in the family, school and society to educate children so that they know the national and world cultural heritages; they will respect and adhere to the ideas of humanness, freedom, equality and community; they will respect the concept of a livelihood earned by productive work; and love nature.
49. Parents and guardians bear the prime responsibility for helping children discover the world and make right choices for their life and future work, teaching them humanness and rearing them in sound health.
50. A policy will be pursued to make every individual, organization and mass medium responsible for creating a social environment conducive to children's proper upbringing and for promoting and inculcating in them progressive tradition moral values.
51. The development of cities and other settlements in such a way that they reflect the specifics of Mongolia's nature and the co-existing nomadic and sedentary cultures shall be promoted as a means for the state, the family and society to create esthetically and psychologically adequate environments for children and foster in them sensible attitudes towards demand and consumption.
52. Research will be directed at studying children's intellectual, mental, physical and physiological development in the context of Mongolia's cultural and socio-economic specifics, creating an appropriate database and ensuring children's well-rounded development.
53. Government policies will aimed at ensuring a safe childhood in a loving and caring environment provided by parents, children's mental and physical health, and protection from infectious, diseases, at improving the environment in which they live and at teaching them the habits of a healthy life and a responsible attitude to their own health.
54. The Government shall be responsible for the medical insurance of children under 18 years of age.
55. Breast-feeding, the supply of appropriate and adequate baby food, monitoring of children's physical and mental health, production of children's food products enriched with micronutrients and vitamins, particularly with iodine, iron, and vitamins D and C shall be promoted and supported.
56. Voluntary action aimed at protecting children from malnutrition, weight loss and hunger resulting from a family's level of livelihood, shall be uncompromisingly supported.
57. Systematic measures will be taken to ensure a continuous provision of medical and social services to children with physical and mental disabilities. Rehabilitative equipment, and education and vocational training tailored to the special needs of these children will be provided.
58. Production of and trade in clothing and footwear meeting the special needs of children's health and psychology as well as climatic requirements of Mongolia shall be promoted and supported.
59. A policy will be pursued to improve and develop the substance and methods of the work aimed at developing, educating and preparing children for adult life on the basis of both the traditional culture and the universal human values and scientific and technological knowledge.
60. Standards of pre-school, primary and secondary education will be further improved with regard for international standards and national tradition, and the system of their implementation will be improved substantively and structurally.
61. A special policy in the field of teacher-training will be implemented to ensure a proper selection of gifted and motivated persons as teachers, improvement of the substance and methods of training and an increase of the capacity of teacher-training schools.
62. A policy will be pursued to ensure a supply of textbooks and books on sciences, humanities, technological design and invention, and other reference and fiction books that would effectively facilitate children's learning and intellectual development.
63. Cultural activities and art works meeting the spiritual needs of children in conformity with their mental capacities will be encouraged and promoted.
64. Support will be given to voluntary organizations and movements working to promote children's right to freely express themselves, to develop their ability to cooperate in life, study and work based on mutual respect and a sense of personal responsibility and to foster their coping mechanisms.
65. An information environment favorable for children's education and spiritual development will be created by capacity designing and implementing a program meeting the objective of a citizen of a new century and giving children a comprehensive and systematic knowledge and the information appropriate for their age and capacity.
66. Parents, the family and the school shall bear responsibility for detecting children's gifts and talents from the early childhood, giving them education, organizing children's work in accordance with their physical and mental capabilities and skills, developing in them the knack for work, and teaching them the science and art of achieving personal fulfillment be relying on their own talents, interests, intellect and hard work.
67. Government policies will be aimed at educating children as citizens fully aware of humanistic ideas, of nature of their traditional culture, and of law and of their rights and responsibilities.
68. It will be deemed crucial to instill in children admiration and respect for the special relationship that exists between parents and children and between the teacher and the student.
69. Measures will be taken to create a comprehensive legal framework protecting the rights and interests of the child and to enhance government and public of the implementation of the concerning children.
70. Measures will be taken to protect children from oppression, exploitation, abuse and violence by adults or society and to prevent such acts.
71. The Government shall take care orphaned, physically and mentally disabled children and support children living in adverse conditions. A policy will be pursued to promote adoption and foster parenting of young orphaned children, and to support families and individuals taking care of such children.
72. The aspiration of ethnic minority children to study and communicate in their native languages and to learn their cultural heritages shall be respected.
73. Government shall encourage and support the activities of organizations of all types of ownership aimed at promoting the rights and interest of children and raising funds to meet their needs.
74. Special programs aimed at promoting public awareness of the activities concerning children, and mobilizing and coordinating national resources and efforts shall be designed and implemented at national, regional and local levels of government (aimags, the capital soums and districts).

75. The government policy shall be aimed at developing the legal and socio-economic bases for the development of youth.
76. Every support shall be given to the initiatives and activities of youth, aimed at protecting their health and achieving physical development.
77. Priority shall be given to improving the legal and environmental education of youth, inculcating in them respect for the mother tongue and traditional culture, and to creating conditions conducive to their rewarding and productive leisure.
78. Support will be given to the needs and aspirations of youth to develop their talents, to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure their lifetime livelihoods, to have adequate housing and to enjoy the benefits of their free intellectual creativity.
79. The Government shall encourage the initiatives and activities of Mongolian youth with aims of developing cooperation with young people of other countries, actively participating in public life, developing their country and promoting international peace.

80. The government policy shall be aimed at ensuring equal rights of women in political, social and economic spheres and in the family, and at fully incorporating them in development.
81. Attention shall be concentrated on creating conditions conducive to the birth of healthy children from healthy mothers by way of protecting the health of girls, women and mothers, and providing them with appropriate education, information and counseling.
82. Priority shall be attached to increasing women's opportunities for educational and professional growth and for developing their talents and skills, and to involving them in public life and development.
83. Efforts will b made to foster in girls and women the skills needed for good mothering and homemaking on the basis of the traditional culture of family life.
84. Respect for the value of the work of rearing and educating children as an important contribution to the development of the country shall be fostered and promoted. Moral and legal criteria for its assessment shall be strengthened.
85. Attention shall be paid t assisting women in increasing their economic rights and income-earning capacities, improving opportunities for full and part-time employment as well as for work at home and particularly to the opportunities for engaging in home-based small business.
86. Women's participation in political and economic decision-making shall be increased.

87. The government policy shall be directed at providing the elderly persons with an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of their contribution to the development of the country and satisfying their cultural and economic needs, creating conditions for their guaranteed social security, an at protecting their rights and interests.
88. Measures will be taken to develop an infrastructure ensuring a guaranteed livelihood for the elderly and providing them with medical, social and cultural services, and to expand the range of subsidized services for them.
89. A policy will be pursued to encourage the elderly to share their life and work experiences with the younger generations and teach them national cultural traditions, to support the aspiration of the elderly to live an active life and contribute to the country's development; and to develop an appropriate system of recognition of their work and dedication.
90. The Government will deem it important to promote and perpetuate the long-standing traditional love and respect for the elderly, and to strengthen the bonds of affinity between of generations.
91. Family care for the elderly will be promoted and legal prerequisites will be created to develop residential care facilities for lonely and/or incapacitated aged persons at the local level.
92. An effective system of management and measures will be set up to make an appropriate use of the skills and wisdom of retirees.

93. Every support shall be extended to the activities aimed at creating conditions for persons with disabilities to participate in social life, protecting their rights and interests, increasing their employment opportunities and income-earning capacities, creating jobs for them and at introducing relevant international labor standards.
94. Measures will be taken to improve the social safety network for the disabled on keeping with specifics and needs of social development.
95. Measures will be taken to improve research into the causes of disability, and to upgrade the standards of the monitoring system designed to ensure safe living and working conditions for the population.
96. All-round support will be given to appropriately designed and executed schemes offering better educational opportunities for the disabled including education for children with impaired sight, hearing and speech.
97. A policy will be pursued to combine appropriately the efforts of the family and community on the one hand, and specialized professional institutions, on the other, in achieving the physical and mental rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
98. Measures will be taken to enhance the opportunity for persons with disabilities to develop their talents and to participate in social, cultural and sport activities.
99. Those disabled persons incapable of earning livelihoods or those with no legal guardians of custodians shall be supported by the government social welfare schemes.