Project helps women migrant returnees reintegrate

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese women migrant returnees will receive assistance to reintegrate into their communities sustainably under a project launched in Hanoi on March 6.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) jointly held a workshop to kick-start the project on strengthening Vietnam’s capacity for sustainable reintegration of women migrant returnees and their households in Vietnam.

With financial support of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOIKA), the project will be rolled out in Hanoi, Hai Phong and Can Tho cities, and Hai Duong and Hau Giang provinces.

In its two-year duration, the project is expected to help improve the policy support environment, make policy recommendations, strengthen technical capacity for officials of the VWU, and establish support offices in the five targeted localities.

VWU Vice President Bui Thi Hoa said women migrants have to face various difficulties, especially legal issues, job opportunities and matters relating to their children.

Cho Han Deog, KOICA’s Country Director in Vietnam, expressed his hope that the project will contribute to raising living standards of the returnees after their broken marriages.

Brett Dickson, IOM’s Project Manager in Vietnam, called on agencies in the five project localities to take an active part in order to push ahead with the formation of the above-said offices.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, some 18,000 Vietnamese citizens marry foreigners each year. Of the number, 72 percent are women whose spouses are mainly Chinese, American and Korean.

Vietnamese women accounted for 38 percent of foreign brides in the Republic of Korea (RoK) last year. The divorce rate for Vietnamese-Korean couples is about 30 percent./.