Russia asked to “legalise” illegal immigrant workers; Ha Giang children with deformities enjoy free surgery; VN seeks expertise in building law for the disabled; President praises volunteers’ contributions to nation; Vietnam calls for more int’l support to Somalia

Bac Kan to stabilise people’s lives in flood-hit areas

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong has asked Bac Kan province to take immediate measures to overcome the consequences of the recent floods and stabilise people’s lives in flood-hit areas.

At a working session with leaders of the provincial People’s Committee on July 12, Mr Trong extended his deep sympathy to the families who lost their relatives and those who had their property damaged during the floods.

He asked the province to deploy forces to seek the nine dead bodies still trapped under the rubble and be well prepared for storm Soudeler which is battering the northern coastal provinces.

Top priority is given to resuming production, repairing damaged roads, bridges, schools and houses, restoring the communications network and preventing possible outbreaks of infectious diseases in the affected areas, said Mr Trong.

He said that the province should draw up plans to build resettlement areas for people living in flood-prone areas and, at the same time, improve the forecasting to minimise the consequences of natural disasters.

Representatives of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and the Bao Viet Group provided nearly VND400 billion in support of flood victims in the province.

Russia asked to “legalise” illegal immigrant workers

The head of the Russia Federal Migrant Service (RFMS) has promised to scrutinise a proposal to grant temporary residence cards for illegal immigrant workers who lost their jobs after the closure of the Cherkizovo market in Moscow.

The Itar-Tass news agency quoted the Chairman of the Committee for Relations between Nations of the Russian Institute for Social Studies, Nikolai Svanidze, as saying that the committee has sent a letter to the RFMS for granting temporary residence cards to illegal immigrant workers, considering them as an exception.

According to Svanidze, the granting of residence cards, but not prohibition immigrants’ entry, would be the sole solution for the issue related to immigrant workers in Russia.

He stressed that tightening the immigrants’ entry would lead to the increase of illegal immigrants to Russia.

The Cherkizovo market, one of Moscow ’s largest markets, has been closed for three months as from June 29 for checking hygienic conditions. The closure of the market leaves more than 100,000 people jobless, many of them being Vietnamese.

Praise for fight on social ills

The People’s Committee of HCM City yesterday honoured the city Social Evils Prevention Division for its contributions in fighting drug abuse and prostitution.
The division, part of the city’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DoLISA), was set up in 1994.

Besides its work in combating social ills, the division has helped DoLISA manage capital and oversee training for officials who work in rehabilitation centres for drug abusers and prostitutes.

The division also helps women and children who have been trafficked abroad to re-integrate into society.

Nguyen Van Minh, deputy head of DoLISA, said the division had also helped more than 16,000 people set up businesses or get new jobs after completing rehabilitation treatment.

In addition, it has worked with departments and local authorities to organise forums, conferences and activities on drug abuse, prostitution and HIV/AIDS prevention in industrial and export processing zones.

It has also co-operated with police in city districts to uncover thousands of prostitution and drug rings as well as individuals who act as intermediaries between Vietnamese women and foreign men.

In the last 15 years, it has uncovered 30,000 hotels, massage parlours and karaoke establishments involved in illegal activities and fined them more than VND40 billion (US$2 million).

The division was presented the Labour Medal, Third Class in 2007 by the State and other congratulatory certificates by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the city People’s Committee.

Better planning can balance sexes

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan called on the population sector to improve family planning services, especially for women.

He was speaking at a meeting to celebrate the 2009 World Population Day with the theme “Responding to the Economic Crisis: Investing in Women is a smart choice”, organised in Ha Noi yesterday by the Ministry of Health.

Nhan said it was necessary to build a practical action programme to protect the health of Vietnamese women and girls, and stressed the importance of dealing with the imbalance in sex ratio.

According to Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu the day gave people the chance to call on every nation and policy maker to keep on investing in women’s health and ensuring continued progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, despite the recent global economic crisis.

Protecting women’s income, helping children have access to education and family planning centres are utmost important factors to ensuring the safe future of each family, he said.

Trieu asked the population sector to focus on improving accessibility to reproductive health care for women of child-baring age, especially those living in remote areas, island regions and areas with economic difficulties.

Strengthening the capacity of population control, consultation and pre-marital and pre-natal health checks were needed to tackle the imbalance in the sex ratio.

Progress had been made in expanding access to reproductive health and family planning, Trieu said, citing maternity fatalities which have decreased from 95/100.000 in 2000 to 75/100.000 in 2007; and malnutrition rate among children below five which as fallen from 33 per cent in 2000 to 21 per cent in 2007.

Every year, more than half a million women die during pregnancy, while more than 350 million couples have not had proper access to family planning services, according to statistics provided by the United Nations Fund for Population and Development.

Ha Giang children with deformities enjoy free surgery

Vietnamese paediatricians have provided free surgery to nearly 100 children with congenital defects in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang.

The beneficiaries coming from 11 districts and towns in the province, mostly suffered hare-lip, cleft palate, visually impaired, and disabilities in urinary organs.

The four-day charitable operation programme, which last from July 8, is sponsored by the Netherlands Government and local associations and businesses.

The programme has also given free post-surgery treatment for the disabled children at the provincial General Hospital and Disabled Children Relief Centre.

VN seeks expertise in building law for the disabled

Vietnamese policy-makers on July 10 organised a workshop to seek input from local and international experts on a draft law on the protection of people with disabilities in Vietnam .

The workshop, the third of this type, was organised by Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped and the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare.

It will be the last forum to gather constructive opinions for the draft bill before it is submitted to the government and the National Assembly for approval.

This is the proper time for Vietnam to prepare such a law, as Vietnam can now use as a guideline the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a document it signed in 2007, and at the same time tap the experience of countries all around the world, said Kathleen Blank, Attorney and Programme Specialist of the US National Council on Disability.

Eric Rosenthal, an expert from the United Nations Children’s Fund, suggested the draft law should have a special section tailored to the protection and mainstreaming of children with disabilities.

Daniel Mont, Senior Economist of the World Bank, said the bank is willing to assist the drafting procedures, particularly in terms of data collection.

As a representative of the disabled people, Nguyen Hong Ha, Director of the Hanoi-based Independent Living Centre, suggested there should be a monitoring agency to supervise implementation of the law once it has come into effect.

Some even voiced the need to increase access to information technology for the people living with disabilities.

President praises volunteers’ contributions to nation

President Nguyen Minh Triet extolled great contributions of young volunteers to the country’s liberation cause at a ceremony held in central Quang Binh province on July 11 to pay gratitude to former volunteers who sacrificed their lives during the war against the US.

The President said the young volunteers were always present at places that were the main targets of the US army’s bombardment to clear up bombs and repair roads, ensuring smooth transport of ammunitions, cookings and other necessities from the north rear to the southern front.

Millions of young people from rural and urban, highland and lowland areas registered to join the voluntary forces during the war time.

The President stressed the need to continue caring for families of fallen and invalid soldiers and people who made meritorious contributions to the nation, and protecting the revolutionary achievements that many generations of Vietnamese had to pay their blood for.

At the ceremony, the Transport Construction Company 5 presented 183 houses each worth 20 million VND and 400 million VND in cash to former volunteers in 17 provinces and cities nationwide.

The ceremony was to mark the 59th anniversary of the Vietnamese voluntary force’ traditional day (July 15) and the 62nd Day of War Invalids and Fallen Soldiers (July 27).

Earlier, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in central Da Nang city held requiems for fallen volunteers at the Tan Ap, Van Ninh and Tho Loc cemetaries in Quang Binh province.

On the occasion, a ceremony was held in Hanoi on July 11 to launch a project to cast a bronze bell for the bell-tower at the Dong Loc T-junction relic site in central Ha Tinh province to commemorate fallen soldiers and volunteers.

The bell, which will have a weight of 5 tonnes, a height of 3.6m and a diameter of 1.95m, will be casted by craftsmen from Yen Phu ward, Hanoi capital city.

The construction of the Dong Loc bell-tower and temple began two years ago. The 12,500 sq.m. complex includes a 1.570 sq.m temple, a three-door gate and a 7-floor tower, which has a total cost of 32 billion VND.

After two years, more than 2,000 organisations and individuals have donated nearly 6 billion VND to the project.

The Dong Loc T-junction, which played a vital role in the transport of necessities and ammunitions from the north and the south, is well-known for the story of 10 young female volunteers, all of them were unmarried, who sacrificed their lives to ensure transport on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Between 1965-1968, at this T-junction, the US army dropped nearly 50,000 bombs and fired tens of thousands of missiles in the hope of cutting off the transport route to the southern front.

Dong Loc has become a historical symbol for the nation’s patriotic traditions.

Vietnam calls for more int’l support to Somalia

Vietnam has expressed concern about current violence in Somalia and called on the international community to support the Transitional Federal Government (FTG) in Somalia.

“My delegation remains deeply concerned about the ongoing violence in and around the Somali capital of Mogadishu as reflected by intensified attacks by insurgent groups, against the TFG and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM),” Ambassador Hoang Chi Trung, Vietnamese Charge d’Affaires at the UN, made the statement at a UN Security Council debate on Somalia on July 9.

The diplomat said given the sufferings that are being visited upon the civilian population and the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the country, there is obviously an urgent need for immediate and vigorous international support for the TFG’s endeavors to repel the onslaught of extremist forces, which are intent on destroying the Djibouti peace process and spoiling the efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia through political reconciliation.

“Vietnam supports the TFG’s call for the mobilisation of additional troops for AMISOM in order to enable it to withstand the insurgent attacks,” he said.

The diplomat stressed Vietnam welcomes the pledges made by the government of African countries to contribute troops to AMISOM in the coming time.

Trung also called on the international community to exert efforts for the peace process and stability in the region and to work for closer cooperation and a more effective partnership between the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU) and the League of Arab States (LAS) in addressing the challenges that confront Somalia and to bring about a lasting peace and security in the region.

PV