(Photo for illustration. Source: hanoimoi.com.vn)

Vietnam is undertaking maximum efforts to reduce the number of child labourers who are accounting for 10 percent children.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep explained in a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on September 9 that light and short-term work that does not harm the physical and mental growth and human dignity of children is excluded from the definition of child labour.

However, employing a child of 5-17 years of age to work more than seven hours a day is considered illegal and classified as child labour, Diep noted.

Raising public awareness of the issue was the key solution, he said, adding that it was necessary to impose sanctions on employers of child labourers and provide aid packages to encourage poor children to go to school instead of work.

He valued the ongoing project funded by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the US Department of Labour for its efforts in helping Vietnam eradicate child labour in the garment and brick manufacturing industries.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, nearly 1.8 million children are forced to work illegally in Vietnam, with the majority living in rural areas and 67 percent working in agriculture.

Source: VNA