Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

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. National programme on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes the Government’s information on the adoption of the National Programme to prevent and combat human trafficking for the period 2021–2025, with a vision to 2030, which focuses on the prevention of child trafficking. The Government further indicates that it integrated the prevention and reduction of child labour and its worst forms in national programmes such as the National Target Programme for sustainable poverty reduction 2021–2025 and the National Target Programme for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas 2021–2030. The Committee welcomes the introduction of a child labour perspective component in various national programmes and requests the Government to continue taking measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour within the framework of these programmes. In this regard, it requests the Government to provide detailed information on the concrete measures taken and the results achieved.

Article 7(2)(b). Effective and time-bound measures. Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child victims of trafficking. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, between January 2020 and June 2023, the National Child Protection Hotline received calls from 141 minors presumed to be victims of trafficking (101 girls and 40 boys). Among these 141 minors: (1) 16 per cent were promptly rescued; (2) 41.22 per cent received psychological support; (3) 21.37 per cent received legal assistance; (4) 7 per cent received financial support; (5) 5.3 per cent received education and vocational support; and (6) after verification, it was determined that 10 children were not victims. The Government also adds that, between 2020 and 2022, the local Departments of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISAs) identified 112 victims of child trafficking, and that these children were removed and provided with services which included safety protection, support for travel expenses, education and vocation training and medical, legal and psychological support. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken to remove children from trafficking and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration, including on the number of children who have been removed from trafficking and who benefited from rehabilitation measures, as well as on the results achieved.

Article 7(2)(d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. Children in street situations. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, when children are found wandering and begging for food, the authorities will take them to social assistance facilities for temporary care and psychological support, while the DOLISAs collect information and assess the children’s family situation. Depending on the specific conditions of each child, the DOLISAs may decide to foster and provide long-term care in social assistance facilities or support them returning home. In either case, the Government states that DOLISAs and local authorities take measures to support children in health, education and vocational training.

The Government further indicates that, between January 2020 and June 2023, the National Child Protection Hotline received 426 calls reporting children wandering the street. The Hotline connected with and supported 72 children through: (1) the referral of 11 children to social assistance facilities; (2) the safe return of 11 children to their home; (3) legal aid; and (4) financial support. The Government adds that, due to limited human and financial resources and to the fact that children often move to different geographical areas, intervention and support for this group of children remains a challenge.

The Committee notes the ongoing ILO Project “Enhancing National Capacity to Prevent and Reduce Child Labour in Viet Nam” (ENHANCE) and the Government’s indication that, in the framework of the Project, it is in the process of conducting an assessment on children in street situations, in order to gain insight into their problems and to further develop actions and support these children.

While it takes note of the Government’s efforts, the Committee notes, from the concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the concerns about reports of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children, children with disabilities, child victims of trafficking and other children in disadvantaged situations who are living on the street (CRC/C/VNM/CO/5-6, 21 October 2022, paragraph 49). The Committee recalls that children in street situations are particularly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour and therefore requests the Government to pursue its efforts to protect these children from the worst forms of child labour and to continue to provide information on: (i) the measures taken to this end; and (ii) the results achieved, including by indicating the number of children living on the street identified and provided with direct assistance for their rehabilitation and social integration. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results of the assessment on children in street situations undertaken in the framework of the ENHANCE Project.