Spain, ILO to Help Vietnam Phase out Child Labor

Spain will grant EUR2.5 million to help Vietnam implement a four-year project to eliminate child labor practices, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said Mar 30. Under the terms of the agreement signed in Hanoi on Mar 29, the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) will undertake the project with technical assistance from the International Labor Organization (ILO). Under the project, the ministry will support 5,000 children who are working in dangerous conditions in Hanoi, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Quang Nam and Dong Nai provinces by providing vocational training and helping them find jobs. It will improve information systems and the national database on child workers, design new models to reduce child labor in the targeted localities and raise the public’s awareness on the issue. The ILO will work together with Vietnam to deal with this issue, ILO Director in Vietnam, Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, confirmed, adding that the project will be expanded to other cities and provinces. More than 26,000 Vietnamese children, equivalent to 0.1% of the total number, are currently working in hard, harmful and dangerous conditions, the MoLISA said.