ILO, Vietnam join hands to promote int’l labor standards

Vietnam will likely become a leading country among the ASEAN member states in promoting international labor standards by 2030. 

Local workers at Hanoi's industrial park. Photo: Pham Hung

The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Vietnamese Government will make a joint effort to achieve the goal in the next ten years.

It is a major content of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the 2021-30 period that the ILO Vietnam and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) inked on May 20 to enhance the promotion of international labor standards in the country.

Both sides agreed to work together to promote the ratification and implementation of international labor standards in Vietnam through a cooperation framework between the MoLISA and ILO Vietnam, ensure the participation of representatives of workers and employers in the entire process.

The cooperation includes raising awareness on the international labor standards, transposing the ILO Conventions ratified by Vietnam to Vietnamese laws, and promoting the national capacity to implement. It also covers the implementation of ratified conventions and monitoring them as well as developing proposals for ratifying other ILO conventions.  

Vietnam has ratified 25 ILO Conventions to date, including seven out of eight fundamental conventions covering the areas of collective bargaining, non-discrimination, child labor, and forced labor. 

According to the MoU, the country would ratify 15 more ILO Conventions, including core Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, in accordance with socio-economic conditions.

At the signing ceremony, MoLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said the signing of the MoU is a significant step marking a new development period in the cooperation between the MoLISA and ILO Vietnam to promote international labor standards and improve the national labor legal system. 

“It also affirms Vietnam’s deepening international integration as the world is witnessing lots of changes, including those in labor and employment,” he said.

Being of the same mind, Chang-Hee Lee, ILO Vietnam Director, noted that the event showed the country’s commitment to modernizing its labor and social law in line with universal principles enshrined in international labor standards of the ILO.

“I believe that it will lead to social upgrading which is required for Vietnam to move towards becoming an upper-middle-income country,” he said.

Since 1919, the ILO has maintained and developed a system of international labor standards aimed at setting out basic principles and rights at work. 

International labor standards are drawn up by the ILO constituents - governments, employers, and workers in the form of Conventions (or Protocols), which are legally binding international treaties once ratified by member states, or recommendations, which serve as non-binding guidelines.