Vietnam Seeks Int’l Support to Better Protect 13M Vulnerable Workers

Vietnam is seeking more international community support to protect and ensure legitimate rights of 13 million workers of vulnerable groups, said an official from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). The statement was made at a conference held in Hanoi on Sep 11 by the MoLISA and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), as part of the 8th ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD 8). Nguyen Trong Dam, deputy head of the MoLISA, said that workers of vulnerable groups in Vietnam are poor and have especially difficult circumstances. By end-2011, Vietnam had nearly 13 million workers of vulnerable groups, making up nearly 24% of the workforce. The figure included 6.5 million poor workers, 4.3 million disabled people, 180,000 HIV-infected, 190,000 drug-addicted, one million emigrant and more than 500,000 unemployed. Nearly 80% of these people are living in rural areas. The majority has low academic level and has not received any vocational training, said Mr. Dam. Last year, Vietnam poured nearly VND84 trillion ($4.03 billion) into social security programs, rising 20% from a year earlier. The amount, however, did not help them much. Social activists have asked the government to have better policies to protect and prevent them from being abused. Vietnam aims to provide vocational training and to generate jobs for 70% of workers of the vulnerable groups by 2020 under the national target program on labor market development for the 2011-2012 period recently announced the MoLISA and the International Labor Organization (ILO). (www.tienphong.vn Sep 12)