Children at risk of child labour in natural disasters

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the International LabourOrganisation have co-organised a workshop on the prevention of child labour in natural disasters and climate change.

As one of the world’s five countries most vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters in Việt Nam have recently become intense and increasingly hard to predict.

Nearly 70 per cent of Việt Nam’s population lives in rural areas and more than 40 per cent of the workforce are involved in agriculture, making them prone to disasters’ impacts in terms of labour, employment and social protection.

A representative from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs reported Việt Nam has in place a legal framework and strategies to prevent and minimise natural disasters and impacts of climate change, as well as policies to help children and their families in emergency situations. The country also provides support to disasters-stricken families to cope with consequences.

Việt Nam has 1.75 million child labourers, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the nation’s child population, as reported by the 2012 national survey on child labour conducted by the Vietnamese Government and the ILO.

In May 2017, Prime Minister NguyễnXuânPhúc issued the National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has a specific target aiming to end child labour in all its forms by 2025.-VNA

VNA