The Vietnam General
Confederation of Labour (VGCL) has strongly condemned China’s violent acts
targeting Vietnamese fishermen within the waters of Vietnam, at the 103rd International
Labour Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva.
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Chinese ship fires water cannon at
Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Force vessel
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In his speech delivered at
the conference’s June 10 sitting, VGCL President Dang Ngoc Tung spoke on detail
about China’s acts in violation of international law since it illegally
positioned its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone
and continental shelf.
He particularly objected to
China’s inhuman acts against Vietnamese fishermen who were undertaking their
regular operations in their traditional Hoang Sa fishing grounds.
Chinese ships have
continuously constraining, driving away and ramming into Vietnamese fishing
boats, causing damage to many boats and injuring many people on board, Tung
said.
More seriously, Chinese
forces beat and injured many Vietnamese fishermen, even sinking a Vietnamese
fishing vessel, putting the on-board fishermen’s lives in danger, stated Tung.
The Vietnamese official
spoke highly of the main contents discussed at the May 28-June 12 conference,
including the amendments to the 1930 Forced Labour Convention and the
implementation of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair
Globalisation passed at the 98th International Labour Conference in 2008.
He reported that over the
past times, the VGCL has actively coordinated with Vietnamese and ILO social
partners to carry out the 2012-16 Vietnam-ILO National Cooperation Programme on
Sustainable Employment, the “Better work” project and the Tripartite Action to
Protect Migrant Workers within and from the Greater Mekong Sub-region from
Labour Exploitation.
During its stay in Geneva
from June 9-12, the Vietnamese delegation met ILO Director General Guy Rider,
Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Yoshiteru Uramoto, and Director of
ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities Helena Andre.
It also had meetings with
trade union delegations from Singapore, Laos and Cuba and attended the open
Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions
Source: VNA/VNN
