The war between Israel and Hezbollah has taken place for two weeks. The war is in the Middle East but many people in Viet Nam are paying close attention to the news every day. A reason is that Viet Nam used to suffer a lot from wars and the people have experienced the pain and suffering of wartime.
Another reason, which has direct links, is that hundreds of Vietnamese are living there. Will they be evacuated safely?
Half of these Vietnamese are living in Israel with their Israeli husbands. We have less concern for them because they have taken Israeli nationality. Therefore, top concern goes to the destiny of about 200 female Vietnamese workers in Lebanon, mostly being housemaids and many of them are in Beirut now.
These women were not sent to Lebanon by job placement firms, so Viet Nam’s administration of Vietnamese workers abroad does not know all their names and addresses. This is a difficulty for evacuation.
The war has laddered and spread to Beirut Capital. The UK, France, the US and Italy have sent aircraft and warships to the Middle East to evacuate their nationals. The Philippine Government, in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has brought home the first group of Philippine workers.
How about Viet Nam? Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and IOM to help evacuate the Vietnamese citizens. Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem has ordered the Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt to contact Vietnamese workers in Lebanon by all means and sent a special envoy to Lebanon for evacuation.
While relevant agencies are seeking to contact them, Hoang Minh Trung, who used to work in Beirut and has a job placement office there, has sent to the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt a temporary list of 118 Vietnamese workers stuck in Lebanon. His list is valuable for evacuation.
In the globalization era, Vietnamese citizens live and work in many places all over the world. A question here is whether administration can function well to protect their rights, lives and property in case of need. This time is a good lesson to learn.
