Human rights agency operations discussed

A workshop on international and regional human rights mechanisms and links among human rights enforcement and research agencies opened in the central city of Da Nang yesterday, April 16.

The workshop is part of a project to enhance the enforcement of international treaties on human rights between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Addressing the opening session, Ha Kim Ngoc, Assistant to the Foreign Minister, described human rights as a common desire and the achievement of human struggles in various stages of development.

He stressed that the Vietnamese Party and State consistently strived for better human rights for the people.

Ngoc said the workshop was a chance for participants to share information and experience and propose recommendations to ensure and promote human rights in Viet Nam, as well to build and complete a human rights mechanism for the region.

The two-day workshop drew the participation of officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Justice, Home Affairs, Information and Communications, and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, along with the UNDP and experts from domestic and foreign research agencies.

First Vietnamese guest-workers return to RoK

Illustrative image. (Photo: Internet)

The Vice chairman of the Korean Centre for Human Resource Development, Lee Choon-bok, welcomed their back to work for their former company after their working contracts expired. He expressed his hope that they will set an example for other workers to follow.

The Counsellor and head of the Vietnamese Labour Management Board in the RoK, Nguyen Hai Nam, said under the agreement between the Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the RoK’s Ministry of Employment and Labour, the Overseas Labour Centre conducts a Korean language test every three months for workers who want to return to the RoK to work after finishing their working contracts. If they pass the test they will be re-employed by former employers.

Of 186 Vietnamese workers who passed the test recently, 77 have been re-granted visas to come back the RoK to work.

Normally, it takes 3-6 months for a worker return to Vietnam and then come back to work again in the RoK.

Guest-workers urged to obey RoK law

An official from the Republic of Korea (RoK) has advised Vietnamese guest-workers to comply with the legal system of their country of residence so they will have more opportunities to stay and work there.

Lee Hang-bock, director of a centre that assists guest-workers in Cheonan, the RoK, gave this advice on April 15 during a consultancy meeting with Vietnamese workers who are returning home.

Lee affirmed that his centre is willing to help Vietnamese workers seize opportunities and build on their strengths such as diligence and the ability to learn new skills quickly. He added that Korean employers often preferred Vietnamese workers because of these positive qualities.

The Director of a Vietnamese centre for overseas labourers, Phan Van Minh, admitted that in recent times, a number of Vietnamese workers had requested a change of workplace for non-legitimate reasons and tried to stay illegally in the RoK after their contracts expired.

Minh also called on Vietnamese workers to stick to the contracts they signed and obey the local laws.

He emphasized that workers will create more job opportunities for themselves and others by following the laws of both countries.

Since 2004, Vietnam has sent more than 63,000 guest-workers to the RoK, accounting for 25 percent of the total number of foreign workers from 15 nations under the RoK’s EPS program.

Foreigner’s remains found on Con Dao

A construction unit that is building Pham Van Dong Park in Con Dao Island District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, has found five skeletons collectively buried in a grave underground.

The information was released yesterday by the provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, which has reported the finding to concerned agencies.

The grave, which was made of solid materials, was 2,5 meters wide, 2.5 meters long and 2.2 meters deep.

According to local authorities, the five skeletons might be of foreigners, possibly French or other nationals who worked for the French, who died on Con Dao.

Bui Van Binh, chairman of the district People’s Committee, said the remains are being kept intact pending handling by concerned agencies and the French Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.

The area where the remains were found was the same spot where 43 French bodies were uncovered several years ago, local authorities said.

In 2005, after getting approval from concerned agencies and the French Consulate General in HCM City, the Con Dao authorities transferred the 43 sets of remnants to the Lai Thieu Cemetery in southern Binh Duong Province.

The Con Dao Islands are an archipelago and a district of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province in southeastern Vietnam. Situated at about 185 km (115 miles) from Vung Tau City and 230 km (143 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City, the group includes 16 islets, with a total land area of nearly 76 square meters.

Nearly 4,000 ecstasy pills seized

Hanoi’s Ha Dong district Police on April 15 caught Nguyen Van Tuan carrying a short gun and nearly 4,000 ecstasy pills.

He is a 36-year old resident of Tan Thanh in Lang Son province, involved in transporting drugs illegally from Loong Luong in Moc Chau district, Son La to the capital city.

As a serious drug user, he was twice convicted of robbing property and recently went to Moc Chau a few times to buy drugs.

The case is still under investigation.

Mushroom soup kills two people

Two people in northern moutainous Lai Chau Province's Than Uyen District died after eating mushroom soup with six others on April 8, according to Do Van Giang, director of Lai Chau Hospital.

The remaining six are being treated in hospital, to which they were transferred four days after the incident.

Doctor Giang said the hospital had not been able to identify which mushrooms they ate or what sort of poison they contained.

Thousands of Vietnamese gamble in Cambodia daily

About 3,600 Vietnamese people go to Cambodia to gamble every day, and on Saturdays the figure increases to 5,000, a survey by the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department of Crime Prevention and Control shows.

The survey results were released at the conference held Friday by the ministry to review its units’ performance in combating prostitution and gambling in 2011.

The General Department said it had conducted the survey at 40 casinos and 23 cockfighting fields in Cambodia and ten Vietnamese localities that border Cambodia.

According to the Criminal Police Department, these casinos and cockfighting fields are organized professionally through a close management system including boards of directors, managers, accountants, foreign exchange clerks, cashiers, poker dealers, guides, and security guards.

They even have groups of marketers who visit many areas, both urban and rural, to lure gamblers and cockfighters into spending their money.

The department is keeping a close eye on 173 gamblers, and the 319 drivers who usually take those gamblers from Vietnam to Cambodia, as well as 47 members of the underworld who act as protectors of casinos and cockfighting fields in Cambodia.

Last year police nationwide detected more than 11,000 gambling cases involving 56,000 people, up 10 percent from 2010.

Gambling in any forms is illegal under Vietnam’s law except in casinos where only foreigners are allowed in.

Police also cracked down on more than 1,000 prostitution rings involving 4,500 women in 2011.

Over time, the prostitution industry has become more complex, involving numerous complicated operation methods, the department said.

In order to drive back gambling and prostitution, the General Department of Crime Prevention and Control asked all police units to strengthen their investigation and detection of such crimes, encourage the public to take part in fighting social evils, and tighten management over operators of games with monetary bonuses.

Man returns $3,300 laptop to French owner

A resident of central Thua Thien-Hue Province returned a laptop worth VND70 million (US$3,300) to its owner, a French film director, who worked there during Hue Festival 2012.

According to the festival's organisation board, Tran Duy Chien of Huong Thuy Commune, picked up the Apple laptop and contacted its owner via a phone number found in the bag.

Shark attacks may be thing of the past

Southern central Binh Dinh Province's authorities will experimentally install a system of fishing equipment to prevent sharks from entering Quy Nhon Beach over the next three days.

According to the provincial Department of Aquatic Products' Exploitation and Protection, the system includes 200-metre special nets which will be set up alternately near areas from the Nin Tho Strait to Trung Beach to prevent sharks from attacking swimmers.

The first shark attack was recorded in 2009 while, as of May 2010, three sharks attacked and injured six people. Local authorities and fishermen have caught six sharks so far, one of which weighed half a tonne.

Craft villages and artisans honoured

The Hanoi People’s Committee honoured three traditional handicraft villages and 19 artisans on April16. 

They have contributed to preserving and expanding traditional crafts, creating jobs and increasing income for local people, thus helping further socio-economic development in the city. 

The villages include the Banh Trung Tranh Khuc village in Thanh Tri district, Van Lang Village making fishing nets in Phu Xuyen district and Ngoc Than woodwork village in Quoc Oai district. 

Nguyen Phuong Quang, born in 1984, is the youngest craftman to receive the title artisan this time. He is the third generation in a family working in rattan weaving in Chuong My district. 

Quang’s grandfather was recognised as an artisan in 1961, and his father was honoured in 2009. This year, Hanoi has honoured 277 craft villages and 135 artisans.

ORBIS treats eye patients in Hue

The ORBIS flying hospital is providing free eye check-ups and surgeries for people in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue from April 16-28.

The hospital will also train and transfer ophthalmologic technology to local doctors, nurses and technicians working in the field.

The ORBIS doctors expect to perform free operations on more than 50 visually-impaired patients during their stay in Thua Thien-Hue, including cataract removals and treating retinal disease caused by diabetes.

They will also train Vietnamese medical students and doctors through live broadcasts of the operations.

This is the fourth time the ORBIS flying hospital has come to Hue to provide these services with its team of more than 20 expert ophthalmologists from the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada.

All costs for the program and surgeries will be covered by the FedEx group.

WB funding helps to protect Red River banks

The Management Board for northern waterway projects held a ground-breaking ceremony to build and upgrade the embankments that protect the Red River’s banks in northern Phu Tho province on April 15. 

As part of a World Bank (WB) project to develop transport in the northern delta region, the US$14.3 million package includes four contracts to build embankments and dredge the river to protect four sections of the rivers banks, with a total of 62 km. 

The project will cost over US$200 million with US$170 million coming from WB loans and the remainder provided by the Vietnamese Government. 

According to Le Huy Thang, the General Director of the Management Board for northern waterway projects, several major waterways and small ports along the Red River in the northern region will be upgraded to reduce transport costs and enhance the quality of transport services, improve local people’s living standards and boost the region’s socio-economic development. 

The entire project is scheduled to be completed and in operation by 2014, he added.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre