{"id":99690,"date":"2022-12-22T15:23:50","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T09:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=samudra&p=99690"},"modified":"2022-12-22T15:23:50","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T09:53:50","slug":"a-safe-harbour","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/a-safe-harbour\/","title":{"rendered":"A Safe Harbour"},"content":{"rendered":"
Securing the rights of migrant workers in Taiwan\u2019s fisheries is an ongoing and evolving process<\/strong><\/p>\n This article is by Yi-Hsien Chiu<\/em> <\/strong>(yokosotw@gmail.com), section chief of the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Taiwan is an island country. The fisheries in the surrounding seas are crucial to its development. This informs the government\u2019s policy on marine fisheries. The flourishing capture fisheries are one of the country\u2019s main economic activities. Unlike the more stable and favourable land-based economic activities, capture fisheries are risk-prone and labour-intensive; this has lowered the willingness of people to work on board fishing vessels in recent years.<\/p>\n To meet the labour shortage, it has become a norm to recruit migrant fishers, especially for Taiwan\u2019s distant-water fishing vessels, numbering an estimated 1,140 Taiwan-owned and -flagged fishing vessels, and 230 Taiwan-owned, foreign-flagged fishing vessels. Nowadays, fishers on board mainly comprise workers from Southeast Asia. In 2019, migrant workers comprised an estimated 11 per cent of Taiwan\u2019s 300,000-plus fisheries workforce, of whom 12,476 worked in coastal and offshore fisheries and 22,302 were in the distant-water fishing fleet. Most migrant fishers come from Indonesia, with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Asian countries accounting for the remaining.<\/p>\n The 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, published by the United States Department of State, identified excessive working hours, abusive working conditions, verbal and physical violence on the Taiwanese distant-water fishing fleet. The US Department of Labor also includes the fish caught by the Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessels in its \u2018List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor\u2019; this points to labour violations in the Taiwanese fleet, including wages not paid in full, poor living conditions and care on board, and operations lasting for months at sea without stopping at a port of call. Altogether, these create a negative impact on the development of the fishing industry.<\/p>\n In order to provide the international community with the correct information and to ensure that the distant-water fisheries are sustainable, the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan recognizes the need to advance relevant protection of human and labour rights in the sector. It fits relevant domestic laws and regulations with international standards such as the C188 \u2018Work in Fishing Convention\u2019 adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2007 (hereafter, C188).<\/p>\n In view of this, the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the Taiwanese government, had convened the Co-ordination Conference for Human Trafficking Prevention and the Human Rights Promotion Task Force on December 30, 2020. It also tasked the Council of Agriculture to formulate the Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights, as a sub-plan of the National Action Plan for Human Rights, in collaboration with relevant governmental bodies.<\/p>\n
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