International Labour Organization (ILO) in Viet Nam

HIV project

ILO was executing a SPPD Project on Reducing HIV/AIDS Related Employment Discrimination in Vietnam.

This project was aimed to contribute to the protection of the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, the prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission among workers and their families and the reduction of the epidemic's adverse consequences on social, labour, and economic development. Specifically, it was expected support (i) enhancing the understanding of the causes and extent of HIV/AIDS related employment discrimination both at policy and workplace level and (ii) Based on the identification of the main forces that drive stigma and discrimination, developing strategies on how to effectively reduce the incidence of discrimination in Viet Nam, including providing direct inputs on these aspects to the process of development of National HIV/AIDS Strategy and redrafting of the HIV/AIDS Ordinance. The activities of this project was an integral and complementing part the "policy advocacy" and "support to the development of National HIV/AIDS Strategy" components of the UNDP-supported project VIE/08/006.

Three studies had been carried out: i) a rapid assessment to identify gaps in past and ongoing efforts aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination;

ii) An analysis of the Government policies (laws, regulations, guidelines and their implementation) that may reduce or contribute to HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination in the world of work

iii) The extent and causes of discrimination by employers have been established for a specific industrial sector or province.

The findings of the three studies were consolidated into a project research paper that has been discussed with ILO constituents and concerned authorities at a national tripartite workshop jointly organized by UNAIDS and ILO Vietnam in Hanoi in December 2003.

After the approval of the UN Heads of Agencies, the research paper would be improved with further comments and/or feedback from other UN agencies and then turned it into a joint UN discussion paper for policy advocacy.

ILO Code of Practice

The ILO has translated its Code of Practice into Vietnamese and planned to disseminate it widely to all its constituents as well as concerned agencies, including a number of enterprises.

A training package for the above Code was just translated into Vietnamese as part of a response to the growing demand for the Code training and capacity building for concerned agencies. ILO expected it to get printed and used widely among the business community.

ILO also supported the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to print a HIV brochure with a focus on the ILO core principles on HIV/AIDS.

GIPA

ILO has been involved in the GIPA development initiative in close collaboration with other UN agencies.