Vietnam releases first child labour survey

About 9.6 per cent of children aged between 5 and 17 in Vietnam are child labourers, the first national child labour survey revealed last week.

“The report is a major achievement and we hope to work with the Government and other partners to follow up on the recommendations of this first ever child labour survey in Vietanm”, says Gunnar F Andersen, the Country Director of Save the Children in Vietnam.

The rate is 1.0 per cent lower than the world’s average and 0.3 per cent higher than that of Asia and Pacific region, according ILO Global Child Labour Trends Report.

The survey released by the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs (MoLISA) showed that there are 1.75 million, out of over 2.8 million children engaging in economic activities, are classified as child labourers, nearlyone-third of them have to work more than 42 hours per week, and 96.2 percent have dropped out of school.

Of the total number of child labourers, children in rural areas represents 85 percent and those in urban areas account for 15 per cent.

According to the Director of the Institute of Labour Science of the MoLISA, Nguyen Thi Lan Huong “The rate is higher in rural than urban areas. Different from the group of children participating in economic activities, the child labour group tends to shift from agriculture to industry and services. Therefore, the protective fences are less and the children are vulnerable,”

According to the report, about 1.3 million or almost 75 percent of the population of child labourers are identified as children who are at risk of engagement in activities prohibited to adolescent workers or in hazardous working environment by Vietnam law.

The survey was conducted in 2012 by the General Statistic Office with ILO support and covered  50,640 households.

According to Deputy Minister of Labors, War Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep, the survey shows the overall picture of child labour in Vietnam and it was expected to contribute to the elimination of child labour as planned by the Government for 2016-2020.

Recommendations of the survey include:

• To keep a constant watch to protect child labourers who are at the risk of becoming engaged in hazardous work
• To strengthen the labour inspection mechanism in the country to impose harsh penalties to employers for violations to the Labour Code.
• To integrate child labour concerns into the national socio-economic development plan for greater effectiveness.

In the past few years, the Government of Vietnam has made tremendous efforts to respond the protection needs of an increased number of children vulnerable to social changes in the last two decades. The country has managed to escape from the list of poor nations but a fast development and urbanization has also created a widening gap between the rich and the poor. The migration of people from rural areas to urban areas and cross the borders to find work is increasing youth unemployment, family break-ups, crime rate and the erosion of traditional values has lead to an increased number of abandoned, neglected, exploited, and abused children.

At the launch of the child labour survey, the Country Director of Save the Children in Vietnam Gunnar Andersen informed that the organization is just starting a project, supported by Accenture, on youth unemployment.

“We hope to be more engaged with the urban youth challenges in the future”, he said.

Save the Children in Vietnam aim to support children from all perspectives. Since 1990s, Save the Children has implemented programmes to prevent child trafficking and exploitation, violence against children, child abuse and provide direct support to children in needs. Our advocacy is integrated with programme implementation to ensure consistent and sustainable impact. In 2012, in coordination with Plan, World Vision and Child Fund, Save the Children in Vietnam successfully advocated for the Government’s approval of a community-based child protection system implementation nation-wide. The implementation was set out in the government’s national strategy for child protection from 2012-2020.