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Social News 19/12
Food safety inspections increase for Tet holiday
The Viet Nam Food Administration (VAF) has called for more
inspections to ensure food safety nationwide as Tet approaches.
"From now to the end of March, inter-ministerial
inspection teams will visit food production and trading units of all levels,
especially in big cities with high consumption and food processing villages
and at border gates," said VAF deputy director Nguyen Thanh Phong.
Authorities will also focus on producers and distributors of
goods that will be in particular demand during Tet, such as wine and beer,
eggs, milk and fresh meat.
"The number of units to be inspected will increase by 10
per cent from the same period last year in the hope that we can reduce the
number of food poisoning cases during Tet," Phong said.
"Communication campaigns will disseminate information and regulations on
food hygiene and safety, especially knowledge about food selection,
preservation and cooking."
Wetness in the north and heat in the south were the major
factors that affected food quality and safety during Tet, according to Phong.
As of December 15,
There were 22 cases and 15 more fatalities than last year,
while the number of hospitalised people declined by 901.
Food poisoning and fatalities were caused primarily by eating
or drinking natural toxins in toad, globefish and sea snail and traditional
wines containing strange tree roots.
Green building gets EDGE certification
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, awarded its first EDGE
(Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) resource efficiency
certification in
EDGE is a new building resource efficiency certification
system created for emerging markets. It provides clients with technical
solutions for going green and captures capital costs and projected
operational savings.
"The EDGE system makes a strong business case for
resource efficient building, where financing and environment can come
together," said Wendy Werner, World Bank Group's Practice Manager for
Trade & Competitiveness for
Nam Long Investment and FPT City Da Nang are the first
companies to achieve EDGE certification for a building project in
Covering an area of 5.9 ha, FPT City Da Nang JSC's office
complex in the central city is expected to accommodate 10,000 employees in
the next two years. Recognised as an environmentally-friendly and
energy-saving complex by the Ministry of Construction, the six-storey
building will have a solar-powered heating system and generator that can
produce 12KWh of solar power daily.
Informal workers lack protection
Around 700 work-related deaths are reported each year, but not
all of the victims' families are compensated. This year the country's Labour
Accident Insurance Fund is running a surplus, said a labour expert, raising
questions as to what could explain the discrepancy.
The expert, who prefers to be unidentified, explained that
many workers failed to enter into a labour contract with their employers,
making accident compensation voluntary.
"It's very important that informal workers are
compensated. I can not accept the fact that the insurance fund is getting
bigger while many workers and their families have been left to fend for
themselves", said the expert.
Ha Tat Thang, head of the Department of Labour Safety, said
informal workers are often unprotected and need the Government to take action
to change the country's labour policy to benefit all of its workers.
Truong, a construction worker from Nga Hoang District of Bac
Ninh Province, suffered a permanent injury to his legs in a work accident. He
said his employer made a contribution to his hospital fees but he was not
aware of accident insurance as a possible avenue for compensation.
"I wish I knew about it before. It would have been of
great assistance to my family," Truong said.
In current debates over the construction of the new Laws on
Occupational Safety and Hygiene, policy makers have stressed the importance
of including informal workers in the country's Labour Accident Insurance
Fund, said Dieu Ba Duoc, Chief Policy Enforcer of the social insurance
agency.
Duoc said questions as to who should be responsible for paying
the insurance money for informal workers and how they should be covered have
been raised.
Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Pham Thi Hai
Chuyen told Tien Phong newspaper that the ministry was well aware not every
worker in the country is covered by labour accident insurance.
She added that there are more issues than just who is covered.
Even when workers are contracted and covered by accident insurance, employers
are often not willing to report accidents to authorities.
Employer's avoidance often hurts the rights of workers and so
the ministry has proposed several solutions to be included in the new
occupational safety law.
One solution is to pay workers directly in the case of an
accident, another is to incentivise employers to improve work safety by
offering subsidies. The ministry also proposed the Government to establish a
insurance fund and encourage informal workers to also be contributors.
Bui Sy Loi, deputy head of the National Assembly Committee for
Social Affairs, also said that workers must be protected and must have safe
working environments.
Policy makers, therefore, are obligated to step up their
efforts to ensure informal workers will be covered, he encouraged.
Quang Ngai destroys 12,000 A/H5N6 infected quails
The central
The infected birds were traced back to a poultry farm in Tinh
Ha commune, Son Tinh district. This is the fourth H5N6 bird flu virus case in
the province.
Despite being vaccinated, the quails were found dead without
reason on December 14 and their samples were tested positive for the virus.
In order to prevent the virus from spreading, local
authorities promptly destroyed the infected birds and sterilised poultry
farms in the district while encouraging residents not to consume infected
poultry products.
To date, local authorities have implemented a number of
measures to prevent the outbreak of the virus and prevent poultry-to human
transmission.
According to the World Health Organisation, A/H5N6 is a highly
pathogenic strain but there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human
transmission despite occasional instances of apparent inflection between
family members.
According to Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee
Hua Ngoc Thuan, the MDP model was piloted in four districts in the city last
year and is expected to be expanded in the whole city in the 2016-2020
period.
The results of the MDP census in these districts enabled the
city to prioritise policies for targeted beneficiaries and areas of support.
At the same time, it suggested ways to combine income poverty and MDP
approaches in monitoring, evaluation and identifying poor people.
Addressing the event, UNDP Deputy Country Director Bakhodir
Burkhanov praised the city’s use of multi-dimensional poverty as pioneering
efforts.
He said multi-dimensional poverty approaches have achieved
global traction by providing a robust alternative to - and complement -
income-based measures.
They are particularly applicable in middle income countries
like
Vice Director of the city Department of Labour, Invalids and
Social Affairs Nguyen Van Xe presented the plans for the MDP use and
implementation, saying that the poverty dimensions and lists of poor
households will be identified in the first quarter of 2015.
The seminar on Multi-dimensional Poverty Measurement was
jointly hosted by the city’s Steering Committee for Poverty Reduction and
Improved Household Livelihoods and the UN Development Programme to discuss
plans to implement the MDP in the city and useful lessons for the National
MDP process.
With the UN support,
Revolution contributors to be presented with Tet gifts
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has
proposed gifts totalling 434.5 billion VND (19.9 million USD) be presented to
contributors to the nation’s revolution on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar
New Year (Tet) festival.
The proposal will be submitted to State President Truong Tan
Sang for approval.
The beneficiaries are those who joined the revolution before
1945, heroic mothers, heroes of the people’s armed forces, seriously wounded
ex-servicemen, war veterans exposed to Agent Orange/Dioxin, war invalids, and
relatives of martyrs, among others.
The programme’s funding is sourced from the State budget plan
for 2015.
Japanese prefecture helps
Representatives of
Both sides agreed to work together on concrete cooperation
plans in human resources training, farm produce processing, agricultural
production area planning and investment promotion.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Viet
Hung called on the Japanese prefecture to assist his locality in training
human resources, setting up agro-technology experimental centres and
developing agricultural product processing.
He also proposed
On his part, Gunji Yukitoshi, deputy head of
Chairman and Principle of Minami Kyushu University Hasegawa
Jirou vowed to give Nam Dinh a 50 percent reduction of tuition fee for
agro-technology training courses from 2015.
Ninh Binh keen to develop sea-health care services
The northern province of Ninh Binh has spent 11.17 billion VND
(532,000 USD) on a sea and island health care development programme with the
aim of ensuring coastal and island residents to access health care services.
It was part of the
Vice Chairman of the Ninh Binh People’s Committee Le Van Dung
said from now to the end of next year the programme covers the organisation
of five training courses to provide basic knowledge and skills on first aid
at sea for about 40 percent of those who work in ships and the provision of
medicine chests for 50 vessels.
Three medical stations in coastal communes will be equipped
with medical tools and three others will be upgraded, he added.
Besides, the province has ensured health insurance for people
and improved its medical check-up and treatment capacity while providing
basic knowledge for communal medical workers and fishermen.
Ninh Binh has six coastal communes, namely Kim Dong, Kim
Trung, Kim Hai, Kim Tan, Kim My and Con Thoi of Kim Son district. The
district has set up a remote health service called telemedicin, and equipped
145 vessels with medicine chests.
Challenge for migrant workers
Like so many workers across the ASEAN region, every year tens
of thousands of workers leave
However, for many workers opportunity is coupled with complex
challenges such as knowing where to go for help when something goes wrong.
According to the baseline report conducted in 2011 by the
International Labour Organization (ILO), none of the potential migrants
surveyed knew about the detailed costs for migration or the Government’s
regulations on service charges, brokerage fees and refunds. Half of the 300
respondents did not even know which channels they should migrate through and
95% were not aware of their right to keep their passports when abroad.
The ability of migrant workers to access complaint mechanisms
is an issue which continues to receive increased recognition. It creates
complex issues for all relevant stakeholders and in
When Vietnamese migrant workers are underpaid, exploited
or injured at work, progressing a complaint can be a difficult or lengthy
process for both workers and local authorities. Potential barriers to workers
making a complaint include a lack of understanding of their rights,
uncertainty about which authority to contact for assistance, the high costs
involved, or fear of an adverse response from their employer such as reduced
work hours.
Workers may also encounter difficulties in compiling evidence
to support a claim. This may be due to the absence of a written contract,
discrepancies between contracts signed by workers in
Local Vietnamese authorities may also face issues in
knowing how to effectively manage a complaint and coordinate with relevant
stakeholders. In particular, there is also an important role for recruitment
agencies to play in providing timely and fulsome information to assist with
the management of a complaint.
Under the GMS TRIANGLE project (to protect migrant workers
within and from the Greater Mekong Sub-region from labour exploitation), the
ILO has been working with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs
(MOLISA) and the Vietnam Association for Judicial Support for the Poor
(VJASP) to consider existing complaints mechanism for migrant workers and how
the legal framework can be strengthened. The preliminary results of this
survey, conducted by VJASP and MOLISA, show that among the early
return migrant workers surveyed who had difficulties abroad, almost 30%
decided not to proceed with making a complaint as they did not know where to
lodge it or believed they would not be supported.
Approximately 30% of workers who submitted a complaint to a
recruitment agency or local authority did receive a response, however, 100%
of that group found the requests not settled to their satisfaction.
International Migrants Day (18 December) is a time to reflect
not only on the important role migration plays but also the challenges it
presents when workers raise issues about their working arrangements or
conditions. In continuing to address these challenges, all stakeholders
should work to ensure the protection of workers and see increased benefits
across the region.
Women farmers empowered through increased access to land
rights
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has just
launched a first-of-its-kind project in
The two-year pilot effort will set up and train teams of
grassroots community volunteers to help farmers, particularly women farmers,
in the northern province of Hung Yen and the Mekong Delta province of Long An
to improve their understanding of land rights. In addition to training
community volunteers, the project will support the work of researchers to
better understand and document gender-specific barriers to realizing land
rights in rural areas. This project will combine commune-level legal rights
counseling and education with advocacy efforts, which will focus on
increasing the capacity of social and mass organizations to advocate for
gender equitable implementation of land regulations, as well as legal
revisions when necessary to achieve this.
“Lack of awareness, by both men and women, of
The centerpiece of the program is the mobilization and
training of 60 community volunteers for gender equality from four communes
across the two provinces. The volunteers will conduct land rights
awareness-raising activities as well as provide legal counseling to
individuals, mitigate land disputes and offer referrals to navigate the
existing legal structures. Researchers are currently conducting a
household-level survey to assess knowledge of land rights and perceptions
about gender equality in the four communes as well as determining what kind
of barriers women face when trying to exercise their rights with respect to
land ownership.
The project is being implemented by the Institute for Social
Development Studies (ISDS), as the local partner of the
Quang Ninh attracts seaport service businesses
A workshop aimed at promoting seaport services in the
northwestern
The event, co-organised by the provincial People’s Committee
and the Cai Lan International Container Terminal (CICT), offered a chance for
the province to strengthen relations and seek investments from businesses
operating in the field.
At the workshop, participants provided an overall view of the
capacity of supplying seaport and transport services in the province.
Patrick Avice, CICT General Director, spoke highly of positive
signs in seaport investment cooperation, saying that many businesses
operating in the areas of temporary import and re-export and logistics
services are looking for opportunities to invest in seaports in Quang Ninh in
general and the
He cited Maersk Line and MCC Transport’s launch of its
services at
With 250 km of coastline and many deepwater ports, Quang Ninh
boasts its competitive edge in developing the seaport economy, especially
when the Yen Vien-Pha Lai-Bai Chay railway is put into operation.
In the coming time, the province will increase activities to
promote cooperation and investment in seaport services along with developing
seaport infrastructure. In addition, it will develop a number of specialised
ports such as Hai Ha, Cam Pha, Van Gia, Mui Chua, Van Hoa, Van Dong and Yen
Hung and a comprehensive logistic system to meet customers’ demand.
Christmas wishes come to southern Protestants, Catholics
Christmas wishes are being offered to all Protestants and
Catholics in the southern region as the season is coming very close.
Deputy head of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern
Region Nguyen Phong Quang visited the Bishop’s Office, Cai Rang Grand Seminary
and several churches in the Mekong Delta city of
He informed them of the region’s socio-economic development
achievements, which were contributed by local priests and followers.
The dignitaries expressed their delight at the care and
support of the steering committee and the city, committing to calling on
parishioners to do more for local socio-economic development.
The same day, officials from the Steering Committee visited
the Long Xuyen Bishop’s Office and several churches in An Giang province.
Christmas gatherings were also organised in Vinh Long and Long
An provinces for Catholic and Protestant dignitaries and believers.
Catholicism and Protestantism are two major religions in
The Indian Embassy in
Addressing the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Education and
Trainning Bui Van Ga said
Hundreds of Vietnamese students have benefitted from training
courses in
The Deputy Minister voiced his hope for more support from
ITEC programme is funded by the Government of India, offering
training courses, both civilian and defence, in different educational centres
in
US, France help
The Red Cross Societies of the
Under the MoU signed in
It will improve the capacity of the VRC and relevant
authorities in managing risks and coping with natural disasters. Vulnerable
communities will be provided with knowledge that enables them to make
planning and action plans to minimise risks in target areas.
Matthieu Drean, chief representative of the French Red Cross
Society in Vietnam, said the project not only enhances the community’s
sustainability in response to natural disasters but also improve gender
equality in society.
Demographic studies vital for social-economic development
Demography is closely relevant to human resources and
population, which requires in-depth studies and analysis to realise
social-economic development plans.
Addressing a workshop in
Director General of the Global Human Resources Forum
Secretariat under the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Training and
Education Lee Namchul shared experience in dealing with demographic changes
in the
The massive migration has contributed to the urbanisation and
economic growth in the light of global integration. The number of migrants
rose to 3.4 million in 2009 from 1.3 million in 1989, more than half of whom
were women aging from 15 to 29.
The wave of migration has created high and sudden demand for
public services such as job, accommodation and health, experts said.
Participants suggested investigating and analysing carefully
data in separate localities to promptly prevent unexpected development such
as surging free migration, gender imbalance, partial population structure,
and insufficient health and education services.
Proper policies will help the country fulfil its development
targets until 2020, especially when it comes to job generation, improving
public living standards, and reducing the development gaps between urban and
rural areas.-
Workshop talks approaches to SEA cross-border livelihoods
An international workshop themed “Ethnographic approaches to
cross-border livelihoods and networks in mainland Southeast Asia” took place
in
The event was to facilitate scholarly comparative discussion
on the cross-border flows of commodities and people in mainland
To Xuan Phuc, a researcher from the Australian National
University (ANU), commented that
Participants also talked in depth the livelihoods of ethnic
minorities living in border areas with
The significance of cross-border social networks in Bru-Van
Kieu ethnic minority areas in central
The event was co-hosted by the Centre for Natural Resources
and Environmental Studies under the
EVN HCMC asked for better performance
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the Ho Chi Minh
City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) to improve the quality of power supply and
build a modern and stable power grid for the local economic development.
At the same time, the group needs to restructure businesses
and enhance competitiveness in the region, the official said at a ceremony in
the city on December 18 during which he presented the first-class
Independence Order to the company.
The high demand for electricity is putting the electricity
sector under pressure, especially when many national-scale projects on
building transport infrastructure and factories at industrial parks will be
implemented in the coming time, he said.
According to the company’s Chairman and Director General Le
Van Phuoc, EVN HCMC, as one of the three leading electricity suppliers in the
country, has ensured sufficient supplies for local development, contributing
to the city’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.8 percent in
2009-2013.
With an annual commercial electricity growth of 6.8 percent,
the company has supplied a total of 77.5 billion kWh in the period. It also
targets 23 billion kWh of commercial electricity in 2015.
Phuoc vowed that his company will do its utmost to ensure the
sufficient and stable power supplies serving the city’s socio-economic
development, economic structure transfer and growth model renovation.
The Deputy General Director of the Department of Meteorology,
Hydrology and Climate Change (DMHCC) summed up the outcome of the 20th
Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as anyone.
Pham Van Tan, who is also the deputy head of the
But he had a caveat saying that on the other hand it has left
much work for
The agreement addresses measures to cut and curb CO emissions,
in all countries, particularly developing countries before 2020. It also
provides assistance for developing countries in terms of financing and
assistance with technology transfer and capacity.
Many leading world experts are, however, criticizing the
agreement reached at the conference saying it does not meet with the world’s
expectation in response to clear and strong impact of climate change.
The 'Lima Call for Climate Action' contains both a 22-paragaph
agreement on Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDC), which are
the emission-reduction proposals that individual countries will begin
proposing in the first quarter of 2015, and a draft negotiating text for the
2015 agreement.
The 22 paragraphs on INDCs are less detailed than many had
expected, and that will make the next three months especially critical as
The proposals are supposed to contain specific
emission-reduction targets and contain specific plans for achieving them, and
optimists believe their emergence in place of a top-down global agreement
will spark a race to the top throughout 2015 and even beyond.
While the Lima summit fell short of expectations, the pressure
is still on countries to put forward their best emissions reduction offers
early next year, but the good news is that the world's three largest
emitters – China, Europe, and the US – have already committed to do so, and
others are expected to join them.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Năm, 18 tháng 12, 2014
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