Measures sought to build standardised recruitment process of labourers to work in Japan

Hanoi (VNA) – Representatives from the Government, international organisations, trade associations, employment service suppliers of Vietnam and Japan gathered at a forum held in Hanoi on April 5 to discuss measures to improve the recruitment of workers to international standards.

Speaking at the event, Shishido Kenichi, Senior Advisor to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President, highlighted the Vietnam-Japan sound relations over the past 50 years in all fields and at all levels.

Each year, about 100,000 Vietnamese young interns and workers arrive in Japan, making positive contributions to the economic development of Japan and Vietnam, he said.

Shishido Kenichi cited a recent JICA survey showing that over 70% of Vietnamese labourers in Japan are satisfied with the life and work there. Meanwhile, JICA recorded a large number of Vietnamese youngsters interested in studying and working in Japan to learn experience and technologies from Japan.

He said that the Vietnamese and Japanese governments have worked closely together to seek solutions to arising problems during the recruitment of Vietnamese workers for working in Japan.

He said the forum is a chance for the two sides to discuss how to improve the working conditions and support to practitioners, thus making more contributions to the labour exchange between the two countries, heading to the establishment of a recruitment process towards international standards.

Emphasising that over the past 10 years, Japan has been one of the top destinations for Vietnamese migrant workers, Ingrid Christensen, Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Vietnam, said that Vietnamese workers creates the largest guest worker community in Japan, accounting for 25.4% of the total 1.82 million foreign workers in the country.

Christensen said that the process of recruiting workers to work abroad should be carried out with fairness, ensuring good working conditions for workers and an effective complaint mechanism.

A recent research by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam with the support of the ILO showed that each worker must pay up to 192 million VND (about 8,000 USD) to be recruited to work in Japan for the first time, which is against international standards on labour migration, increasing the risk of forced labour and the vulnerability of workers.

Pham Viet Huong, Vice Director of the Department of Overseas Labour Management under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that Vietnam is working hard to complete the legal system regarding Vietnamese guest workers under contract, with the supplementation of regulations for better protection of the rights of Vietnamese people working abroad under contract./.