VZCZCXRO8598
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0643/01 1540948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020948Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7922
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4788
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000643 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRIL/ILCSR FOR MMITTELHAUSER 
G/TIP FOR SSTEINER 
STATE PASS USDOL FOR RRIGBY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON POL EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM: FORCED AND CHILD LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS 
 
REF: STATE 043120 
 
¶1. Summary: Forced and child labor (as defined by the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005) is not generally 
used to produce goods in Vietnam.  While there is some evidence that 
abuses do sometimes occur, they are neither widespread nor 
systematic.  Indeed, much of the information for this report was 
collected as part of GVN efforts to identify and eradicate child 
labor.  In large-scale factory settings, child labor is virtually 
nonexistent, occurring only when minors successfully misrepresent 
their age to obtain employment. The use of child labor in family 
enterprises and in the agricultural sector does occur, although the 
numbers of incidents is small and local authorities are focusing on 
programs to end this abuse.  Forced labor by convicted prisoners and 
drug users in cashew processing is acknowledged by Government of 
Vietnam (GVN) officials and is considered part of the rehabilitation 
process.  The practice is not widespread, however, and represents an 
insignificant portion (less than 0.3 percent) of Vietnam's cashew 
industry.  End Summary. 
 
Note Data Sources 
----------------- 
 
¶2. Two major GVN efforts to identify and eradicate child labor are 
currently underway. A four-year (2008-2012) program spearheaded by 
the Office of Government (which occupies a position within the GVN 
somewhat analogous to the White House in the American government) is 
currently in the initial information-gathering stage, after which 
the survey data will be analyzed and child labor eradication efforts 
developed and launched.  Another four-year (2006-2010) program 
funded by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs 
(MOLISA) aims to alleviate child labor in three of the country's 
largest urban areas, Hanoi, Haiphong, and HCMC.  Program components 
include vocational training for homeless children, micro-credits and 
educational assistance for parents of children involved in or at 
risk of child labor, and education regarding causes and harmful 
effects of child labor for likely employers of children.  The GVN 
made data collected for these programs available to ConGen HCMC for 
the preparation of this report.  While not exactly applicable to the 
specific requirements of this report since not all data was broken 
down by specific product, the overall rate of child labor was found 
to be approximately 1 in 5,000.  Since the data collection effort, 
targeted programs have been implemented to eradicate child labor so 
the rate may now be lower. 
 
CASHEWS 
------- 
 
¶3. SOURCE AND TYPE OF EXPLOITATION:  Vietnamese government officials 
in 2007 confirmed NGO reports that a small number of prisoners, 
incarcerated in accordance with the Vietnamese criminal code, are 
subject to forced labor, including under contracts with private 
firms, to process cashews. This includes persons confined in 
Vietnam's 84 drug rehabilitation centers (known as "06 centers"). 
 
¶4. NARRATIVE:  A small number of prisoners are contracted out to 
family-run, small-scale cashew operations as part of the Vietnamese 
justice system's mandate to "rehabilitate" prisoners, including 
through labor.  GVN officials stress that proper protective 
equipment is used.  Residents of Vietnam's "06" drug rehabilitation 
centers are required to participate in drug education classes and 
social labor.  Residents do receive a small salary for their work, 
however part of the money is then returned to the center to support 
the costs of the rehabilitation program.  Large cashew exporting 
companies said they do not use prison or "06" camp resident labor 
for many reasons, including a need to strictly control the 
production chain to ensure consistent quality and because they do 
not trust forced labor to meet high quality standards. 
 
¶5. INCIDENCE: Vietnamese government officials stated in 2007 that 
prisoners worked approximately 1,000 hectares of cashew plantations. 
 Since Vietnam's total cashew acreage is currently between 350,000 
and 400,000 hectares, the area cultivated by prisoners is equal to 
0.3% of the total. 
 
CANDY AND INCENSE 
----------------- 
 
¶6. SOURCE AND TYPE OF EXPLOITATION: Ho Chi Minh City officials 
stated in May 2008 that in September 2006, as part of an on-going 
effort to combat child labor, they compiled statistics on child 
labor from 21 of the city's 24 districts.  These data indicated that 
approximately 600 children worked in family homes making candy and 
incense. 
 
¶7. NARRATIVE: Officials believe that all of the children worked in 
non-hazardous conditions.  The two areas where they did find child 
labor were in the home-based production of candy and incense.  The 
 
HANOI 00000643  002 OF 002 
 
 
purpose of the data collection effort was to identify and eradicate 
child labor, an ongoing priority for the city.  A similar program is 
now getting underway nationwide.  While it is not yet possible to 
generalize from Ho Chi Minh City to the entire country, as the 
country's largest and most densely populated city as well as its 
industrial heartland, child labor in other cities is probably no 
more common. 
 
¶8. INCIDENCE: The fact that the study found 600 cases of child labor 
among the approximately 2,500,000 residents of the city who are aged 
15 or under indicates that the incidence of child labor in family 
home-based industries is 0.02 percent of the population, or roughly 
one in 5,000 children. 
 
HAND-WOVEN HATS AND BASKETS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. SOURCE AND TYPE OF EXPLOITATION: A credible NGO stated in 2008 
that they knew of children weaving hats and baskets from palm thatch 
in family homes in HCMC, but that they did not know how many such 
families existed in total because of the lack of comprehensive 
surveys of child labor. 
 
¶10. NARRATIVE: Credible NGO could not provide a comprehensive 
description of the nature and conditions of the child labor, but 
speculated that it likely consisted of children helping at their 
parents' business for several hours a day after school, but might 
include instances of children working longer hours.  While the NGO 
could not provide statistics these children may have been included 
in the miscellaneous home industries captured by the data collection 
efforts undertaken by HCMC city officials as noted above. 
 
¶11. INCIDENCE:  The child labor survey described in par. 2 may 
eventually provide quantitative data about the degree of child labor 
involved in producing these goods nationwide.  As other sources 
interviewed had no knowledge of these goods being produced by child 
labor, we do not believe they represent a significant incidence. 
The 1 in 5,000 figure derived from the HCMC study data could well 
prove accurate for all types of child labor. 
 
GOLD 
---- 
 
¶12. SOURCE AND TYPE OF EXPLOITATION: In March 2008, Vietnamese print 
and television news media reported that approximately twenty 15 
year-old children had been forced to mine gold in central Quang Nam 
province.  As press reports on "social evils" in Vietnam are 
generally accurate, Mission considers these reports credible. 
 
¶13. NARRATIVE: The media reported that the children were forced to 
work long hours with inadequate food, and that some were subject to 
physical and sexual abuse.  Provincial officials formed a task force 
headed by the police to investigate that mine and others in the 
area, arresting the perpetrators of the crime.  Four children who 
escaped from the mine are now being sheltered by local authorities 
and will testify in an upcoming trial of the mine owner. 
 
¶14. INCIDENCE: The appropriate and timely response of local 
officials in this case along with the absence of additional reports 
indicates that this was an isolated incident, to which law 
enforcement responded appropriately. 
 
MICHALAK 
 
 
 
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