Workshop focuses on migrant labour in ASEAN

Thua Thien – Hue (VNA) – An international workshop on migrant labour in ASEAN was held in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue on November 14.

The event was co-organised by the Hue University of Sciences and the German Rosa Luxemburg Foundation with the participation of more than 200 scientists and managers from Germany, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam .

Participants talked about the movement of low-skilled workers in ASEAN, social welfares for migrant workers, healthcare for migrant women and young migrant labour, and reproduction of labour power.

Amidst the global integration, such issues as the labour competition, the rights of workers, the risks and diseases for migrant workers, and the impacts of industrialisation and the life of vulnerable groups like women, the elderly, children and people with disabilities, are posing a number of challenges to ASEAN countries, including Vietnam .

Participants suggested increasing the protection of migrant workers via labour contracts with specific terms, including labour hygiene and safety.

They held that it is necessary to provide migrant workers with information about their rights in the host society and its regulations and customs.

Countries receiving migrant workers should build a hotline to protect them, they said.

Vietnam, in particular, should build an information support centre and a roadmap to reduce labour cost for Vietnamese guest workers and address their complaints.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, around 250 million people in the world earn living by working abroad.

In Vietnam alone, close to 500,000 labourers are working in over 40 countries and territories, the ministry said, adding that Vietnam is one of the three nations to have the biggest number of migrant workers in ASEAN besides the Philippines and Indonesia.-VNA