Programme of Support to the National Time-Bound Programme on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Executive Summary According to the Global Report on Child Labour, “The End of Child Labour: Within Reach,” 122.3 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 were economically active in 2004 in Asia and the Pacific, making this the region with the greatest number of child workers in the world. The Global Plan for Action that accompanies the Global Report urges all countries to establish Time-Bound Programmes or measures with the goal of eradicating the worst forms of child labour by 2016. The participation of children in productive activities is common in Viet Nam. According to the 2004 Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey (HLSS), around 458,984 children under the minimum age for engaging in light labour (12 years) were engaged in economic activities; 725,456 children (12-14 years of age) who were engaged in “not light” forms of labour were younger than the minimum age for engaging in this type of work (14 years) and 611,369 children from 15 to 17 years of age were working an excessive number of hours. The sum of these groups is an estimated 1.8 million children and adolescent (CA) workers from 6 to 17 years of age, more than 8% of their age group. The coexistence of child labour with the unemployment and under-employment of young people forms a part of the sad and contradictory reality that affects many developing countries. The youth comprise a work force that is under-utilised or un-utilized, meanwhile existing labour demands are satisfied by children who should not be working. Children who drop out of school and begin working at an early age tend to turn into young people with poor prospects for employment. They are neither able to pull their own families out of poverty, nor can they transform themselves into parents who offer a better life for their children, nor can they contribute fully to national development. Despite the rapid progress made in social and economic development in the last decade, child labour is still considered a controversial subject in Viet Nam. Although attitudes have been shifting and issues are being discussed more openly in the media, much remains to be done. Due to the widely-held views that work can be positive for children, little attention has been given at the family and community level to the problem. Although Vietnamese law prohibits the employment of children less than 15 years of age, children still share the workload and household responsibilities with their family, both in rural and urban environments. Poverty, rapid population growth in large cities, industrialization, urbanization, increasing trade liberalization, family attitudes towards education, lack of access to quality education, and migration to urban centres have contributed to the growing numbers of child labourers . There are two important preconditions for the successful combat of child labour in Viet Nam. The first is the willingness and commitment of its Government, as demonstrated in the ratification of ILO Conventions 182 and 138. The second is the National Workshop on Time Bound Measures to Combat Child Labour and its Worst Forms, held on 18 September, 2006, and the Stakeholders Consultation Workshop on 25 January 2008. These two workshops reflected the Government’s decision and willingness to undertake action in cooperation and consultation with employers' organizations, workers' organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other social institutions such as universities and the media. This Project will aim at strengthening and making use of existing initiatives to combat child labour in Viet Nam, whose relevance and feasibility have been tested through time, and at facilitating the preparation of the national Road Map towards the elimination of all worst forms of child labour by the year 2020. The Road Map, which will be developed in 2010 and come into effect by 2011, will function as a Time Bound Programme (TBP) for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. This Project will ther