Social News 14/12 Vietnam warned against unsafe foods The Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) under the Ministry of Health this week received warnings of foreign food safety agencies against two types of dried food originating in Taiwan including tofu and fruits, which contain toxic substances. Particularly, Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety informed the Vietnamese administration of a ban on dried tofu imported from Taiwan after this product had been found to be contaminated with toxic chemicals. The UK Food Standards Agency on Monday also warned against dried fruits produced by two firms named Gima and Norfolk, which contained sulfur dioxide not listed on the food label. Sulfur dioxide is a food preservative used to maintain the colorful appearance of the fruit and prevent it from rotting, but this chemical can cause serious health problems. VFA has reviewed data about food imports in the past two years and has yet to find information about such foods, but the agency stated it will keep contact with the foreign food safety agencies to update information and inform local consumers promptly. However, in reality, dried tofu is still currently sold in some places in HCMC, while dried foods, especially dried fruit, can be easily found in many traditional wet markets such as Binh Tay, Tan Dinh, Ba Chieu and Kim Bien with prices of VND45,000 to VND150,000 per kilo. Most of them do not have clear origins, expiry dates or names of producers, and the information on their labels just includes their names and prices. Some traders said dried fruits originating from Dalat City of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong or European countries and the U.S. are often expensive and have small quantities, so local traders mainly sell such foods from China and Taiwan owing to their cheap prices. Police crack Hanoi wildlife slaughter ring  Environment police in Hanoi’s Cau Giay District have cracked a wildlife slaughter ring that was supplying restaurants with illicit meat. The breakthrough came on December 12, when police stopped a motorbike, which was transporting two pangolins, five civets and a porcupine. Two pangolins seized from a motorbike while on the way to restaurants in Hanoi on December 12. After interrogating the driver, they found a slaughter operation at Phu My Village in My Dinh Commune, Nam Tu Liem District, discovering many wild animals, including pangolins, civets and porcupines, in cages. Some had already been processed for delivery to restaurants. Many wild animals are kept at a slaughter house in Phu My Village in My Dinh Commune, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi. Evidence was found of force-feeding the creatures to boost their weight. The smuggling and consumption of pangolins has become more rampant in Vietnam. The Centre for Education for Nature of Vietnam said they had dealt with 87 cases involving pangolins, scaly mammals belonging to the ant-eater family of species, so far this year. The director of ENV, Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung, praised the quick police response and said those responsible for the trafficking of wildlife would be vigorously prosecuted. Forensic medicine psychiatric center set up in Central Vietnam The Ministry of Health decided to set up a forensic medicine psychiatric  center in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Xuyen has toured to the central province to work with the province authorities over the center establishment. To ensure the forensic medicine psychiatric appraisal as per the law, the Ministry will set up five forensic medicine psychiatric  centers  in the mountainous district in the North, in the Central, in Ho Chi Minh City, in the Highland and in the Southwest Vietnam. Psychiatrists in the center in Thua Thien-Hue province will appraise psychology for criminals in seven provinces including Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh. The center will be officially open before May 31, 2015. Vietnam and Finland launch second phase of innovation partnership programme The Vietnam - Finland Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP) Phase 2 has been launched by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology. The programme aims to help Vietnam develop a national innovation system with enterprises at its core as innovation has become a key factor in determining competitiveness and sustainable development of national economies in a global context. Following successes of the first phase during 2009-2013, the second phase will be implemented until February 2018 with a total budget of EUR11 million, 90% of which comes from Finnish official development assistance with the rest contributed by the Vietnamese Government. The programme will bring international and national experts together to work out appropriate solutions to help Vietnam achieve its 2020 economic goals, particularly increasing exports of innovative products and services. The IPP’s support for innovative projects will be carefully selected from proposals based on market needs assessments and the capacity to implement new innovations, through a competitive, fair and transparent process. Two prosecuted for stealing in Hoi An Hoi An's investigation police force is prosecuting two people arrested last week for robbing a foreign tourist. Dang Van Trung, 25, and Nguyen Duy Vinh, 26, snatched a bag from Yukiko Moriyama, a Japanese tourist, on Hai Ba Trung street on December 3. Police said the two robbers had snatched property from six different foreigners. Company donates medical equipment ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Viet Limited donated six pediatric emergency care carts with portable defibrillators, manual resuscitators, suction machines, drugs and other supplies yesterday to health care facilities in the central provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai. The US$75,000 donation came as part of a programme aiming to enhance pediatric emergency care in central coastal districts. The programme also included training in evaluation and treatment of critically ill children. Da Nang launches rice seed project The central city of Da Nang inaugurated a rice seed production project during a ceremony yesterday in Hoa Tien commune, Hoa Vang district. The US$529,000 project, supported by the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum Fund, is helping turn the rural commune into a centre for rice seed production and research in the central region. The project will focus on using new rice seed varieties, and on building standard warehouses, moisture-measuring devices and dryers. It's the first project in Viet Nam aiming to produce high-quality rice seed varieties. Higher penalties could prompt firms to pay trade union fees Trade union workers said at a conference last week that the Government should increase penalties for firms that neglect paying union fees. Enterprises not paying trade union fees should be fined VND1-75 million (US$47-3,500), as opposed to the current VND1-15 million ($47-700), trade union workers said during the event, hosted by the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour. According to the Law on Trade Unions, amended in 2012, enterprises must spend 2 per cent of their salary fund on trade union fees. The companies must use the fees to pay for employees' funeral expenses, birthdays and other such costs. Nguyen Duc Y, chairman of the industrial zones' trade union in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, used to be a labour inspector. He said that even after being fined, enterprises still wouldn't pay the union fees, because the fines they faced for violating the law were so low. "We don't have strict enough measures for punishing enterprises that violate the fee law," he said. "This puts workers at a disadvantage, because they don't get the benefits from the fees." Agreeing with Y, Mai Thi Kim Hoa, deputy chairwoman of the Tay Ninh Labour Federation, said higher penalties would deter companies from refusing to pay the fees. However, some trade union workers don't think raising fines is enough. Cu Phat Nghiep, trade union chairman of Pou Yuen Viet Nam Company in HCM City's Binh Tan District, said some enterprises failed to pay even when forced to pay more. Companies should face more consequences that just administrative fines, he said. However, some stricter penalties are included in current law. If an enterprise intentionally ignored the fees for a long period of time, it could be sued, said Mai Duc Chinh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. Projects helping disabled women need more assistance The Government should provide more support for women with disabilities so that they can overcome gender barriers in accessing social services, experts said at a workshop yesterday. The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) yesterday. Women with disabilities face more disadvantages than men because of general perceptions about gender roles, a five-month (July to November) study found. The study found that apart from affecting the women's self-esteem, such perceptions also impacted in different ways the development of policies as well as the delivery of support for people with disabilities. This was particularly apparent in schools and vocational training centres, it said. Girls with disabilities are discriminated against before they go to school and when they study, and they have difficulties getting close to other children. At vocational training centres, teachers are not equipped to provide proper guidance to people with disabilities, especially women, about their careers, the study found. Workshop participants came up with several recommendations for the Labour Ministry to improve the situation for people with disabilities in general and women in particular. Pham Ngoc Tien, head of the ministry's Gender Equality Department, stressed the importance of Gender mainstreaming (assessing the gendered impact of actions at all levels), saying it was needed to ensure that women and men benefit equally from socio-economic development. He said this topic was not very visible when people discussed support for people with disabilities in Viet Nam. Others said the Government should improve the quality of vocational training and focus on creating more job opportunities for men and women with disabilities by strengthening co-operative links between training centres and local enterprises. Viet Nam has a high rate of people with disabilities compared to other countries in the region. The Labour Ministry estimates the number at about 6 million, or 7.8 per cent of the population. It is also estimated that 60 per cent of this population segment can work and one-third of the families cannot afford healthcare for children with diabilities. Cutting post-harvest losses key to food security The third Asia-Pacific Symposium on Postharvest Research, Education and Extension opened in HCM City on Tuesday with the participation of more than 180 local and international researchers, scientists and business executives from the Asia-Pacific region, the EU and the US. The biennial event covered all aspects of post-harvest research, processing and preservation of agricultural produce, packaging and storage of agricultural produce, supply chain management and improvement of value chain system for agricultural products, management of quality assurance and food safety. It also discussed development of agricultural produce for tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions such as fruit and vegetables, field crops, plantation crops, herbs and spices and ornamentals, training in post-harvest and extension systems, policy for food safety in international trade and international networks of post-harvest research and training organisations. Bui Van Quyen, general director, Ministry of Science and Technology, said Viet Nam had in recent years paid much attention to developing its agricultural sector and becoming one of the top exporters of major agricultural produce like rice, coffee, pepper, cashew nut, fruits and fisheries. The symposium offered a good platform for participants to share information on research, education and extension related to new and advanced sciences and technical renovations and findings in post-harvest technologies, he said. "More importantly, they can find a way to establish networks among organisations and individuals to contribute effectively to the development of agriculture regionally and globally, he said. "It is also a great opportunity for Vietnamese scientists and businesses to learn about the latest post-harvest technologies and help reduce losses, improve the competiveness of Vietnamese farm produce and at the same time raise farmers' incomes," he added. Rosa S.Rolle of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said the Asia-Pacific region needed to double its food output to feed an additional one billion people by 2050. Now post-harvest losses across the region average around 10-15 per cent for grains and 15-50 per cent for horticultural crops. These losses resulted largely from a weak infrastructural support base coupled with a lack of technical knowledge and organisational capacities among small holder farmers who increasingly faced marginalisation, she said. Apart from reducing the quality, quantity and value of food, losses resulted in a wastage of resources and reduced returns for small farmers, she added. Dr Nguyen Minh Chau, former director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, said post-harvest losses of fruits in Viet Nam, for instance, accounted for 20 per cent of the total output due to inefficient logistics and preservation. More investment in research and advanced technologies was needed to improve the situation, he said. Dr Michael Lay-Yee, programme director of the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, also said Viet Nam needed to invest more in post-harvest handling technologies to improve the quality and the shelf life of its farm produce. "Some of the technologies are very expensive; I think Viet Nam can customise those technologies to make it more reasonable for [its] situation," he said. Organised by the International Society for Horticultural Science and Viet Nam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Postharvest Technology in co-operation with Nong Lam University and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi of Thailand, the event concluded on Wednesday. Korean tourism awards ceremony in Hanoi The 2014 Korea Double Double Incentive awards ceremony was held on December 12 in Hanoi by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) of Vietnam. The country has welcomed more than 70,000 Korean arrivals so far this year, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Ha Van Sieu revealed at the ceremony. Meanwhile more than 130,000 Vietnamese tourists have visited the Republic of Korea (RoK), Sieu added, noting the impressive figures are the result of the great cooperation between the KTO and Vietnam’s travel agencies. Kang Sungghil, head of KTO representative office in Vietnam, in turn said the event aims to honour individuals and collectives in Vietnam who have greatly contributed to the development of the tourism industry in the RoK. In 2014, KTO in co-ordination with Vietnamese travel operators had organized many worthy activities and campaigns including those to encourage Vietnamese athletes to compete at the Incheon Asian Games.    Gov't tries to keep up with progress Viet Nam's rapid economic development caused problems that were difficult for the State to supervise, such as uncontrolled urbanisation, environmental pollution and low-quality education and healthcare, experts said at a conference yesterday in Ha Noi. Deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) Pham Bich San said the country had recently implemented new regulations and legal corridors for social supervision, such as confidence votes on the performance of Government leaders. Moreover, a series of laws currently being compiled would create new opportunities for social supervision, such as the law on referendum and the law on rights of information accessing. State agencies also improved their social supervision by setting up citizen reception units and organising social supervision activities, he said. For instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs had the Public Administration Performance Index, the Ministry of Health conducted hospital assessments and the Ministry of Education and Training surveyed residents to measure their satisfaction with educational services. San said that in Viet Nam, social supervision was implemented by state agencies and social organisations such as the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, associations, community organisations and non-governmental organisations. Information on social supervision was published online and in print and contained in reports sent to appropriate authorities as well as discussion by National Assembly committees. Ta Van Tuan, country director of Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP), said that the basic principle of social supervision was to ensure that the ways to participate was simple and encourage relevant agencies to have ideas and measures. "Positive change from social supervision occurs only when the accountability receiver wants to listen to criticism and is brave enough to change," said Tuan. Experts at the conference also agreed that organisations, State agencies and the National Assembly should work together to set up a complete system of social supervision. The conference was organised by AFAP and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Projects helping disabled women need more assistance The Government should provide more support for women with disabilities so that they can overcome gender barriers in accessing social services, experts said at a workshop yesterday. The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) yesterday. Women with disabilities face more disadvantages than men because of general perceptions about gender roles, a five-month (July to November) study found. The study found that apart from affecting the women's self-esteem, such perceptions also impacted in different ways the development of policies as well as the delivery of support for people with disabilities. This was particularly apparent in schools and vocational training centres, it said. Girls with disabilities are discriminated against before they go to school and when they study, and they have difficulties getting close to other children. At vocational training centres, teachers are not equipped to provide proper guidance to people with disabilities, especially women, about their careers, the study found. Workshop participants came up with several recommendations for the Labour Ministry to improve the situation for people with disabilities in general and women in particular. Pham Ngoc Tien, head of the ministry's Gender Equality Department, stressed the importance of Gender mainstreaming (assessing the gendered impact of actions at all levels), saying it was needed to ensure that women and men benefit equally from socio-economic development. He said this topic was not very visible when people discussed support for people with disabilities in Viet Nam. Others said the Government should improve the quality of vocational training and focus on creating more job opportunities for men and women with disabilities by strengthening co-operative links between training centres and local enterprises. Viet Nam has a high rate of people with disabilities compared to other countries in the region. The Labour Ministry estimates the number at about 6 million, or 7.8 per cent of the population. It is also estimated that 60 per cent of this population segment can work and one-third of the families cannot afford healthcare for children with diabilities. UN Women helps Vietnam fulfil gender equality commitments UN Women will continue providing its policy consultancy and assistance for the Vietnamese Government to effectively implement the country’s domestic and international commitments on gender equality and women empowerment. The statement was made by Gonzalo Koncke Pizzorno, President of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) at a press conference in Hanoi to conclude the UN Women delegation’s visit to Vietnam from December 8-12. Talking about Vietnam’s achievements and progress, Pizzorno spoke highly of the country’s combination of implementing women empowerment in gender equality goals and its law-making efforts related to this issue. He also pointed out challenges in promoting the involvement of men and boys in joint efforts to protect the right of women and girls. He pledged that the UN Women will closely work with the Vietnamese Government to put an end to violence related to gender, boost the leadership and participation of women in policy-making process at all levels, including those on reducing disaster risks and strengthening climate change adaptations. During its stay, the UN Women delegation had working sessions with leaders of the Ministries of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Justice, and Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs, and the People’s Supreme Court. It also visited central Thua-Thien Hue province and Da Nang city- Workshop seeks to eliminate gender barriers among disabled people The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, in conjunction with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), held a workshop in Hanoi on December 12 to share the result of a study on gender barriers in approaching services of people with disabilities. The event aimed to improve awareness of policy-makers, service providers and non-governmental organisations of the barriers the disabled - the most vulnerable group - face when approaching social services. The study shows that among people with disabilities, women often sustain more disadvantages than men. They also feel more difficult to integrate into the community, especially at school or at work. Participants proposed several recommendations to improve the quality of vocational training for both male and female disabled people, including boosting communications to help them and their families understand the importance of taking part in vocational training courses, and building a list of jobs suitable to the group. Authorised offices should also work to enhance the connection between vocational schools and businesses and organise mobile job markets in order to make it easier for disabled people to find jobs, they suggested. The event was part of the social welfare support project in Vietnam funded by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development with the aim of improving the living conditions of poor households in target areas and put forth effectively practical approach methods for nation-level poverty reduction programmes. Soc Trang benefits from computer usage, internet access project The Department of Information and communication of Mekong Delta Soc Trang province have reviewed the outcomes of the “ Improving Computer Usage and Public Internet Access in Vietnam” project. Director of the department Vo Thanh Quang said over the past two years of implementation (2012-2014), the project has enabled local people, including those in poor and remote areas, to use computers and access the internet to find relevant and useful information relating to their production and business. It has helped improve standard of living among the local people, narrowing the development gaps between rural and urban areas. The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is being carried out in five years from 2011 in 40 provinces and cities across the country. The project is divided into three phases with the aim of installing computers in libraries and setting up public internet access points. Soc Trang is among 12 localities in phase I. Committee extends Christmas greetings to Dak Lak Protestants 0A delegation from the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands has visited and extended best wishes to Protestant priests and followers in Dak Lak province on the occasion of 2014 Christmas. During the meeting with the Protestant Representative Board in Dak Lak on December 12, Vice Chairwoman of the committee H’Ngam Nie Kdam, who led the delegation, appreciated contributions by the local Protestant community to poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, maintenance of political security and the traditional culture. She expressed her hope that local believers will continue leading a good secular and religious life and strengthening solidarity towards happiness and prosperity. Protestant dignitaries thanked the local authorities for support to improve both material and spiritual lives of local followers. On this occasion, H’Ngam Nie Kdam and Protestant dignitaries attended a ceremony laying the foundation stone of an office of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) in Tan Loi ward, Dak Lak’s Buon Ma Thuot city. Dak Lak is home to more than 140,000 Protestant followers. Prompt actions on water management discussed The ratification of a resolution on water resources management at the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly is expected to boost cooperation of parliaments in the field. The resolution will create an international legal basis to promote parliaments to join hands in protecting the human right to water and sanitation which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010. Addressing a workshop in Hanoi on December 12, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu, said the establishment of a new mechanism on water management will be an important topic at the 132nd IPU General Assembly. He described this as an opportunity for domestic and foreign policymakers to evaluate the institutional framework and policy on water management in Vietnam. Participants also focused their discussions on water issues in the millennium development goals and sustainable development; cross-border water management; and water pollution control, among others. They also highlighted the role of the National Assembly in building a legal framework and an inspection mechanism for the exploitation and use of water resources in Vietnam. Opinions raised during the workshop will help the Vietnamese lawmakers make active contributions to discussions of the IPU General Assembly which is slated for March 2015 in Hanoi. Workshop seeks to eliminate gender barriers The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, in conjunction with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), held a workshop in Hanoi on December 12 to share the result of a study on gender barriers in approaching services of people with disabilities. The event aimed to improve awareness of policy-makers, service providers and non-governmental organisations of the barriers the disabled - the most vulnerable group - face when approaching social services. The study shows that among people with disabilities, women often sustain more disadvantages than men. They also feel more difficult to integrate into the community, especially at school or at work. Participants proposed several recommendations to improve the quality of vocational training for both male and female disabled people, including boosting communications to help them and their families understand the importance of taking part in vocational training courses, and building a list of jobs suitable to the group. Authorised offices should also work to enhance the connection between vocational schools and businesses and organise mobile job markets in order to make it easier for disabled people to find jobs, they suggested. The event was part of the social welfare support project in Vietnam funded by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development with the aim of improving the living conditions of poor households in target areas and put forth effectively practical approach methods for nation-level poverty reduction programmes. Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND