As many as 1.75 million of Vietnam’s 18.3 million children aged between 5and 17 have been forced into child labour, with 55 percent of them alsodenied access to schooling.

The shocking figureswere revealed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs at aconference in Ho Chi Minh City on June 10, which focused onseeking ways to protect children and adolescents from being physically,mentally and sexually abused.

The ministry reportedthat one-third of the working children have to toil for more than 42hours per week, mostly in farming, garment making, trading andrestaurant services.

Meanwhile, the number of childabuse cases remains high. Every year, about 1,000 cases are reported, 66of which are of sexual abuse, according to the ministry.

Participants at the event, organised by the Tuong Lai Centre forHealth Education and Community Development, held that the root of theproblem is a lack of awareness of children protection among families andsociety. Many families fail to dedicate enough time to their children,while agencies designed to protect them are falling short ofexpectations, they said.

They also proposed the setting up of a network of community organisations to help agencies protect children nationwide.

More readily-available psychological and legal consultation servicesare also necessary to help abused children recover, they said.

Attendees also underscored the need to develop vocational trainingmodels, thus creating suitable jobs for adolescents, as well as theimportance of the increased engagement of local government in preventingchild abuse and helping victims to re-integrate into the community.-VNA