VZCZCXRO9063
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0241 0371014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061014Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4550
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 2482
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS HANOI 000241 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL MITTELHOUSER 
STATE PASS TO USTR DBISBEE AND MSANDLER 
COMMERCE FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
LABOR FOR CARTER, LI 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV ETRD EIND EINV VM
SUBJECT: Vietnam Ratifies ILO Forced Labor Convention; Other 
Conventions Trickier 
 
 
THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET. 
 
REF: 2006 HANOI 2050 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Minh Triet signed 
documents ratifying Vietnam's accession to the International Labor 
Organization's (ILO) Convention 29 on forced labor on January 29. 
The signing had been widely anticipated following a lengthy 
Vietnamese inter-ministerial review to ensure Vietnam's laws and 
regulations conform to the convention.   An ILO member since 1992, 
Vietnam has now ratified five of the organization's eight core labor 
conventions.  While ratification of the sixth 
convention (also on forced labor) is expected soon, ratification of 
the last two -- on freedom of association and collective bargaining 
-- present difficulties for Vietnam's Communist government.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Minh Triet signed documents 
ratifying Vietnam's accession to the International Labor 
Organization's (ILO) Convention 29 on forced labor on January 29. 
The signing had been widely anticipated following a lengthy 
Vietnamese inter-ministerial review to ensure Vietnam's laws and 
regulations conform to the convention. 
 
¶3. (U) Convention 29 on Forced Labor, adopted by the ILO General 
Conference in 1930, stipulates that each member ratifying this 
convention has to adopt measures to eradicate forced or compulsory 
labor in all forms in the shortest possible period.  One hundred 
seventy of the ILO's 178 members, including nine ASEAN 
member-countries, have joined the convention. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Nguyen Manh Cuong, Director of the National Labor Relations 
Board at the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) 
told EconOff that Vietnam has "stepped forward" in terms of its 
respect for international labor norms, with the country now having 
ratified five of the ILO's eight core labor conventions.  Though 
Section 5 of Vietnam's Labor Code currently prohibits forced labor, 
experts note, until their repeal recently, Vietnam laws required 
citizens to "volunteer" annually for the public good or pay a fee to 
avoid doing so.  The repeal of this law was seen as the last 
significant hurdle before Vietnam could ratify Convention 29. 
 
¶5. (SBU) An ILO member since 1992, Vietnam has now ratified five of 
the organization's core labor conventions (Convention 100 on Equal 
Remuneration, 111 on Discrimination, 138 on Minimum Age, 182 on 
Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labor, and 29 on Forced Labor). 
Mr. Cuong stated last year MOLISA expected Vietnam would ratify 
Convention 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labor at the same time it 
ratified Convention 29.  However, he told Econoff that officials in 
one or more ministries have held up the ratification of the 
convention until later pending resolution of unspecified concerns. 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The two other ILO core conventions -- number 87 on the 
Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organize 
and number 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining -- 
are more problematic for the GVN. Article 7 (2) of the Labor Code 
and Article 1(2) of the Law on Trade Unions both grant workers the 
right to establish and join trade unions.  Workers can only 
participate in Unions affiliated with the Community Party-led 
Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, however.  MOLISA has said 
that government lawyers are engaging in a legal review of the 
conventions, but labor experts do not expect ratification anytime in 
the near future. 
 
¶7. (U) Vietnam has ratified another 12 non-core ILO conventions: 5, 
6, 14, 27, 45, 80, 81, 116, 120, 123, 124, and 155.  It also 
affirmed the ILO's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights 
at a workshop on freedom of association and collective bargaining in 
October 2004. 
 
MARINE