Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work.
The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials.
CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers.
Photo: CNA
The alleged abuses included denying medical treatment to seriously injured workers at sea that resulted in deaths, CNN said.
US consumers are “at significant risk of consuming seafood tainted by modern slavery,” Greenpeace senior human rights adviser Sari Heidenreich was quoted as saying in connection with the allegations surrounding Taiwan’s fishing industry.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said at the news conference that the nation’s regulations do not protect fishers working on ships operating outside of Taiwan’s waters.
This exception strips migrant workers in the fishery industry of Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) protections and occupational accident insurance benefits, he said.
The omission has no justification under international law, which considers fishing boats flying the Taiwanese flag to be part of the nation’s sovereign territory, he added.
Citing the findings of Sunday’s Taiwan-EU Labor Consultation, Shih said officials had agreed that Wi-Fi could be utilized to roll back the isolation that abets labor exploitation on the high seas.
The government has no meaningful safeguard against abuses on fishing boats that frequently deploy for 10 months at a time, he said, adding that Wi-Fi communication is standard in the EU.
Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union secretary-general Allison Lee (李麗華) said the ministry has long neglected the protection of migrant fishers in dereliction of its lawful responsibility as assigned by the Labor Standards Act.
The groups demand that the ministry speak with activists to establish a ministerial task force to protect migrant fishers’ rights, she said.
The government had previously pledged that it would safeguard the rights of fishers and fight forced labor by the nation’s fisheries industry, she added.
Serve the People Association migrant worker policy director Lennon Wang (汪英達) said the cases referred to in the CNN report were the “tip of the iceberg.”
Migrants employed in the fishing industry are paid US$550 a month for backbreaking work and have no access to their salary until the ship returns to port, he said.
In response, the ministry said the regulatory separation of fishing in Taiwan’s near waters and the high seas is mandated by government regulations on the fishing industry’s overseas employees.
Measures are being mulled to encourage the voluntary installation of Wi-Fi and satellite phones in fishing vessels via incentives, it said, adding that officials are also in the process of establishing a complaint-filing system using the Line mobile app.
Citing the Action Plans for Fisheries and Human Rights, the ministry said improving the conditions and wages of migrant fishers remains a priority for the government.
Experts, activists and representatives of workers would be consulted about the plan’s implementation, it said.
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