Hanoi officials ban street vendors, threatening livelihoods

The People’s Committee of Hanoi has banned the centuries-old street vending industry, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of Vietnamese and the families they support, the United Nations IRIN news agency reported on June 23.

In an attempt to modernize and “beautify” the city, the government enacted a ban to go into effect July 1 that will prohibit vendors from selling their wares on Hanoi’s congested streets.

Opponents of the ban say no employment alternative program has been instituted for the estimated 5,000 vendors, mostly women, whose income depends on access to the street.

“We will all go hungry,” said Nguyen Thi Lan, a mother of school-age children who began vending after her family’s rice paddies were seized by the government and sold to developers. “We are poor people. We have no land. We are dependent on the street.”

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