Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Viet Nam (Ratification: 2000)

Article 6 of the Convention. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. Support to the design and implementation of national programmes on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. The Committee previously noted that, with the assistance of ILO–IPEC, the Government initiated a project entitled “Support to the Design and Implementation of National Programmes on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour” in 2010. The Committee noted that this 48-month project aimed to contribute to the prevention and progressive elimination of child labour in Viet Nam. The Committee noted that the direct action programmes of the ILO–IPEC project were expected to reach 5,000 children and young people involved in the worst forms of child labour, and that these programmes were implemented through four components, including creating an enabling environment to eradicate the worst forms of child labour through institutional strengthening, capacity building and mainstreaming child labour issues into national policy frameworks; and advocacy, awareness raising, gender sensitivity and capacity building.

The Committee notes the Government’s detailed information on the implementation of this ILO–IPEC project. According to the Government, a system documenting child labour cases and the number of beneficiaries of the ILO–IPEC project has been established in every province. In this regard, the Government reports that there were: 1,052 child beneficiaries in Dong Nai as of August 2012; 339 in Hanoi; 466 in Lao Cai; 954 in Ninh Binh; and 1,052 in Quang Nam, for a total of 3,435 child beneficiaries. Of these children, a total of 1,016 were supported through the provision of educational services or vocational training: 102 in Dong Nai (49 boys and 53 girls); 123 in Lao Cai (64 boys and 59 girls); 459 in Ninh Binh (232 boys and 227 girls); and 344 in Quang Nam (181 boys and 163 girls). In addition, the Government indicates that many awareness-raising activities have been undertaken at the national and provincial levels, including: large-scale activities in response to the World Day Against Child Labour; training activities on child labour at the provincial level for government officials and organizations; and the application of the “Supporting children’s rights through education, the arts and the media” (SCREAM) method, which is the communication of child labour principles through art forms.

Finally, the Committee notes that, according to ILO–IPEC information, a significant intended output of the project is the drafting of a roadmap or national strategy on child labour, which should be included in the National Plan for Children (2012–20). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress achieved in elaborating and adopting a national strategy on child labour. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of children prevented from engaging in, or removed from, the worst forms of child labour.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, and provide assistance for their removal and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child victims of trafficking. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that 63 provinces and cities had set up victim support centres for victims of trafficking. In addition, Peace Houses, sponsored by the International Organization for Migration and Alliance Anti-Trafficking International along with Action for Women in Distress (AAT–AFESIP) in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho City and Au Giang province, provided victims in disadvantaged situations with shelter, food, medical, social and psychological assistance and access to education and vocational training, according to the needs of the victims.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, in 2011, 45 cases of human trafficking involving 670 criminals and an estimated 1,000 victims were detected in the country. Of the total number of victims, 745 were trafficked to foreign countries, 740 of whom returned, and 600 of whom received assistance, such as financial, medical and legal aid, and vocational training. In 2012, 541 victims of trafficking returned and received assistance. The Committee observes, however, that the Government does not provide specific information on the number of child victims of trafficking who were detected and who received the appropriate assistance. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to the Government’s information in its report under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), in 2011, 43 cases of child trafficking were registered, involving 97 defendants, and, in 2012, there were 41 cases of child trafficking, involving 85 defendants. Considering that child trafficking exists in Viet Nam, the Committee requests the Government to provide concrete information on the number of child victims of trafficking who have been provided with assistance and education or vocational training by the victim support centres as well as by the Peace Houses.

Clause (d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. Street children. The Committee previously noted that, although the number of street children declined considerably from 2003 to 2007, there was an increase in 2008 partly due to the economic recession and high inflation. However, since 2009, the incidence of street children started to decrease from 28,528 in 2008 to 21,208 in 2010.

The Committee notes the Government’s acknowledgement that the problem of street children in Viet Nam is a serious and persistent one. In this regard, the Government indicates that the solutions to combat and prevent the phenomenon of street children include: promoting communication and social mobilization; improving the quality of education to attract children into attending and staying in school; initiating a programme to care for children and prevent them from working in the streets; enhancing the capacity of staff working in childcare; developing models to help street children reunite with their families in a sustainable way; facilitating the provision of support for families of street children; and promoting systematic coordination in order to create a community-based system for child protection. While welcoming the measures envisaged and taken by the Government, the Committee urges it to pursue its efforts and requests it to continue to provide information on the number of children in the streets who have been protected against the worst forms of child labour, and rehabilitated and socially integrated through the various measures taken for this purpose.

Parts III and V of the report form. Court decisions and application of the Convention in practice. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that, in the framework of the ILO–IPEC project “Support to the Design and Implementation of National Programmes on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour”, a national study on child labour (NCLS) was conducted in eight provinces and cities in Viet Nam with support from the Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC). According to the Government, the NCLS shows that about 50 per cent of child labourers are working in conditions which have an adverse impact on their physical and mental development and that the average income of these children is very low. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the NCLS and of any other study on child labour conducted in Viet Nam along with its next report, complemented by information on follow-up measures.