A conference evaluating labour export policies in relation with gender and migration opened in Ho Chi Minh City on August 28.

Jointly held by Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Foundation (Germany), the two-day event focuses on the situation of labour export in Asian region, labour export policies of regional countries as well as experience of Vietnam and international community in the management of labour export in the region.

Experts say the rate of women is increasing among migrant labourers in Asia. While these labourers contribute markedly to economic development, they are faced with many problems such as inadequate and inconsistent social welfare policies in host countries. At the same time, a lack of information on the host countries and limited foreign languages skills often make the labourers, particularly women, vulnerable to abuse and human trafficking.

Associate Prof, Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences said existing laws have yet to deal with gender issues relating to migrant labourers. He added that it is essential for both labour sending and receiving countries to cooperate in implementing policies on migrant labour.

Presently, Vietnam has sent about 500,000 labourers to work in 40 countries and territories in the world, of whom women account for 25-30 percent.

The Vietnamese Government has promulgated law and guidelines on labour export and exerted efforts to protect overseas Vietnamese labourers via cooperation agreements with host countries.

However, Vietnam’s trade union organisation has so far failed to reach out to overseas Vietnamese workers due to a lack of mechanism and resources. Experts urged legalizing trade union’s role in assisting Vietnamese labourers abroad as well as strengthening cooperation between the trade union organisations of Vietnam and other countries in order to protect the rights of migrant labourers.-VNA