Reports Of Human Rights Abuse Towards Indonesian Fishers Increasing

Increasing numbers of cases of human and labour rights abuse towards Indonesian fishers on foreign-flagged vessels are coming to light. Most recently, international NGOs, including Human Rights at Sea, have been contacted with evidence highlighting the fishers’ plight, the poor working conditions in which they are forced to work and allegations of ill-treatment resulting in deaths at sea.

Image Credits: humanrightsatsea.org

One Indonesian NGO, Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia, is working to highlight the issue through collating witness information describing incidents of forced labor experienced by Indonesian fishing boat crews notably working on Chinese ships.

Earlier this year, media articles started to shine a greater light on the incidents of egregious human rights abuse, including those published by the South China Morning Post: ‘Indonesia urged to impose tighter rules for Chinese fishing vessel recruitment after seamen’s deaths‘ (June 6, 2020), SE Asia News site: ‘Indonesia Launches Probe after 2 Males Bounce off Chinese language Fishing Boat‘, and the Jakarta based Go Compass article (August 14, 2020): ‘Government Raises Concern over Plight of Indonesian Fishing Crew‘.

In May, video was released of the burial at sea of an Indonesian fisher highlighted by SCMP. Warning – disturbing images.



Reference: South China Morning Post

Source: Maritime Shipping News