Training workshop on child labour mitigation

Illustrative image (Photo: UNICEF)

HCM City (VNA) – A training workshop on child labour mitigation and communication skills for trade union officials in the south is underway in Ho Chi Minh City from December 21-22.

The event is being co-hosted by the International Labour Organisation and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), affording participants a chance to discuss how to prevent, discover, intervene and mitigate child labour.

Head of the VGCL’s board of women’s affairs Do Hong Van said according to the national child labour survey 2018, over 1 million children aged 5-17 across the country were part of the workforce, or 5.4% of the total population.

The survey also pointed out that many of the children are orphans or those whose parents lost their incomes, especially among migrant workers, forcing them to work to earn a living for themselves and their families, said ILO Coordinator in Vietnam Hoang Thi To Linh.

She said about half of working children are toiling in hazardous conditions. Compared to other Southeast Asian nations, child labour in Vietnam is 2% lower but following COVID-19, the rate is increasing.

Delegates at the event said statements, regulations and commitments to not use child labour should be negotiated and incorporated into a collective bargaining agreement along with necessary measures to eliminate child labour in the workplace.

They also looked into the child labour situation in Vietnam and the world, its causes and consequences, and major contents of the fifth global conference on the elimination of child labour and Vietnam’s actions, among others./.