Establishing a system for recruiting Vietnamese workers to Japan according to international standards

The event was co-organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS) and the Japan International Friendly Association (JIFA).

At the Forum, representatives of the government, international organizations, industry associations, employment services and job placement from Vietnam and Japan shared and proposed solutions for operating labor recruitment in a fair and ethical manner.

Speaking at the opening of the Forum, Mr. Shishido Kenichi, Special Advisor to the President of JICA, said that the Vietnam-Japan relationship was established 50 years ago and the two countries have built a friendly and strategic cooperative relationship in all economic-political-cultural fields, not only at the Government level but also at the business and people level.

In that context, currently, there are many Vietnamese people going to Japan as interns to learn and approach Japanese technology and engineering. Every year, there are about 100,000 outstanding and talented Vietnamese youths going to Japan for training and they have made very positive contributions to the economic development of Japan as well as Vietnam in recent times.

According to Mr. Shishido Kenichi, the results of a recent survey by JICA show that more than 70% of Vietnamese workers in Japan share the same assessment and opinion that they are satisfied with their current life and work. Along with that, JICA also received many wishes and aspirations from young people in Vietnam to go to Japan to study, work, and learn more about Japanese skills, experience, and technology.

However, Mr. Shishido Kenichi emphasized that not everything went smoothly and in fact, there were heartbreaking and regrettable incidents in the process of recruiting Vietnamese workers to Japan. The special advisor to the President of JICA shared that the two governments as well as organizations and businesses are making great efforts to discuss and find solutions to the current problems in recruiting Vietnamese workers to Japan, especially the problem of Vietnamese workers having to pay huge expenses and not in accordance with the principles and guidelines of the International Labor Organization when participating in the labor export exam.

“This year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, we also hope that this will be an opportunity for our two countries to have discussions related to improving the working environment, as well as improving the trainee regime in order to contribute more positively to these exchange activities with the goal of establishing recruitment according to international standards,” said Mr. Shishido Kenichi.

Emphasizing that over the past 10 years, Japan has been one of the top destinations for Vietnamese migrant workers, Ms. Ingrid Christensen, Director of ILO Vietnam, said that Vietnamese people account for the largest proportion of foreign workers in Japan, accounting for 25.4% of the total 1.82 million foreign workers working in Japan.

Sharing the opening speech of Mr. Shishido Kenichi, Ms. Ingrid Christensen noted that the process of recruiting workers to work abroad must ensure fairness, good working conditions, an effective complaint mechanism when incidents occur, and an effective system for return and reintegration.

According to Ms. Ingrid Christensen, a recent study by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam with the support of the ILO titled “Measuring the Sustainable Development Goal 10.7.1 Indicator on the Cost of Recruitment of Vietnamese Workers Abroad” shows that in reality, a Vietnamese migrant worker has to pay up to 192 million VND (equivalent to 8,000 USD) to be recruited for their first job in Japan.

“This contradicts international standards on labor migration which state that “no recruitment fees or related costs should be borne by either the worker or the job seeker,” Ingrid Christensen stressed, adding that paying recruitment fees by workers increases the risk of forced labor, increasing the vulnerability of workers as they are forced to repay their debts for months and sometimes years, even after the end of the recruited job.

The presentations at the Forum showed that, in recent times, the authorities of Vietnam and Japan have actively coordinated to implement solutions to resolve issues arising from the program of sending Vietnamese technical interns and specific workers to Japan.

According to Mr. Pham Viet Huong, Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs), on the Vietnamese side, the authorities have implemented many solutions, including perfecting the legal system on Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts. Notably, the National Assembly recently passed the Law on Vietnamese Workers Working Abroad (Law No. 69 of 2020), the Government and relevant ministries and branches have issued documents guiding the Law, creating a legal corridor for this activity.

Mr. Pham Viet Huong said that compared to the Law on Vietnamese Workers Working Abroad in 2006 (Law No. 72 of 2006), Law No. 69 of 2020 has adjusted and supplemented new contents in accordance with the reality and development of the labor migration sector, such as supplementing the State's policies in the field of Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts, prohibited acts and expanding the scope of application of the Law, supplementing regulations to better protect the rights of Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts...

According to VNA