The Protector of Citizens is checking allegations about the position of Vietnamese workers
Representatives of the Protector of Citizens, after learning from the media about suspicions of a difficult situation and inadequate conditions in which Vietnamese workers live in Zrenjanin, together with representatives of the Police Administration in that city, visited facilities banned for use by the police and found that there are LPG bottles and diesel barrels there, which poses a danger to the lives of these people.
The delegation of the Protector of Citizens, on Wednesday, 17 November 2021, talked with representatives of the Zrenjanin Police Department, as well as with workers and representatives of the company that hires workers from Vietnam. The Protector of Citizens learned that all hired foreign workers have a proper application and work permit.
The Protector of Citizens was informed by the representatives of the Zrenjanin Police Department that the Sector for Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Interior performed supervision in the facilities where the workers are accommodated on Tuesday, 16 November 2021, and immediately passed a decision banning the use of two facilities for residential purposes in which the workers are accommodated, as well as holding LPG bottles and diesel barrels found there, due to the danger that may to arise.
The Protector of Citizens asked for better accommodation conditions for workers from Vietnam, and the Zrenjanin Police Department informed the representatives of this institution that it informed the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Zrenjanin about everything in order to determine whether any criminal acts had been committed.
The Protector of Citizens was also informed that the Labor Inspection of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs performed supervision, as well as that the Center for Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings, as an independent social protection institution, took measures within its competence.
The Protector of Citizens will request information from the Labor Inspectorate and the Center for the Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings about the activities undertaken in this case, as well as from the Ministry of Interior on the situation found during the supervision of the implementation of the decision prohibiting the use of two buildings for residential purposes.