Vietnamese workers learn foreign language before going abroad to work
VietNamNet Bridge – According to a communiqué from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), representatives of IOM and the Jordanian Labor Ministry on February 27 took a field trip to where, according to IOM, over 200 Vietnamese workers are being oppressed.
Among the visitors were representatives of the Boat People SOS Committee under the US Department of State.
According to the communiqué, most of the workers are women, except for four young male machinists.
Theodora Suter, IOM’s representative and officials of the Jordanian Labor Ministry were appalled at seeing Vietnamese women who had been beaten and were clearly starving. Suter paid special attention to a worker named Tran Thi Anh, who fainted during the visit.
The IOM and the Jordanian Labor Ministry immediately called doctors to take five workers, including Anh, to a hospital.
The communiqué also says the mission had to struggle with guards to get into the workers’ dormitory, where they were able to collect evidence of maltreatment.
When 167 Vietnamese workers decided to stop working and went on strike, the employer sent security guards to suppress and beat them.
Local police didn’t protect Vietnamese workers, but joined security guards in assaulting them. IOM recorded the words of one female worker: “They held our hair and threw us to the ground like frogs”.
According to Tuoi Tre newspaper’s sources from Jordan, Vietnamese workers are afraid for their lives and want to return to Vietnam as soon as possible.
(Source: here )
SIMILARLY: More than 100 Vietnamese laborers in Malaysia died in 2007
Many Vietnamese workers in Malaysia strangely die
17:12' 28/02/2008 (GMT+7)
The coffin of a Vietnamese worker in Malaysia at Noi Bai Airport
VietNamNet Bridge – Within only one week in late 2007, three Vietnamese workers were reported dead in Malaysia, raising the total number to over 100 in 2007.
According to the Overseas Labor Control Agency, around 130,000 Vietnamese workers have gone to Malaysia to work in production and processing industries. Since 2004, the agency has reported many strange deaths, mostly occurring during weekends.
From April 2002, when Vietnam began to send its workers to Malaysia, to January 2008, 315 deaths were recorded. Notably, up to over 100 Vietnamese workers died in Malaysia in 2007. This figure is much higher than in other countries, and has stirred up suspicion.
According to statistics by the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport, most of the bodies of Vietnamese who die abroad and are transported into Vietnam through this airport come from Malaysia. In June 2007, Noi Bai received 15 bodies, 10 of which were from Malaysia. The ratio was 6/11 in July, 11/12 in August, 8/9 in September and 6/8 in October 2007.
A Vietnamese worker who is working in Subang 2 State, Malaysia, said since 2002, he knew of 10 Vietnamese workers who suffered sudden deaths. Many witnesses in Malaysia and the families of victims confirmed that the dead workers were healthy and strong before they died.
Dao Cong Hai, Deputy Head of the Overseas Labor Control Agency, said his agency sent a working-group to Malaysia in 2005 to survey the living standards of Vietnamese workers and sudden deaths, but were not able to discover any wrongdoing.
The reasons behind many of these deaths, according to the Overseas Labor Control Agency, is poor health conditions of many workers.
“We may say that Vietnamese people are not stronger than workers from other countries. Especially, Vietnamese are used to a humid environment and when they live in countries with dry weather, where temperatures vary greatly, their immune systems become weak. Many laborers work hard, drink a lot and don’t live healthily, and they can suffer fatal complications,” Hai said.
The high number of deaths of Vietnamese workers in Malaysia was first warned about several years ago. In October 2005, Deputy Head of the Overseas Labor Control Agency Vu Dinh Toan told the media that Vietnamese many Vietnamese works who wind up dead in Malaysia is because of their poor health, weather difference, drinking, etc. He confirmed that after the phenomenon was reported, health check-ups for workers before leaving for Malaysia was corrected and the number of deaths has already reduced. After three years, the figure is now increasing. Original source here.
FINAL NOTE: IN 2006, A MAN TOLD ME HE JUST STOPPED HIS BUSSINESS IN EXPORTING VIETNAMESE LABORERS TO MALASIA BECAUSE, ACCORDING TO HIM, 'IT IS TOO TERRIBLE. EVERY WEEK WE HAVE TO GO TO THE AIRPORT TO RECEIVE A COFFIN'. I DID NOT BELIEVE. NOW IT IS REAL AND LIVE.
