Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: a milestone document proclaiming the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.
Article 1 states: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Coinciding with the day, Greenpeace Southeast Asia has released a report in which 13 foreign distant water fishing vessels have been accused of forced labor and other human rights abuses against migrant fishers from Southeast Asia. Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas presents a snapshot of the living and working conditions of migrant fishers – mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines – who end up working onboard foreign owned distant water fleets.
Four main complaints were identified: deception involving 11 foreign fishing vessels; withholding of wages involving nine foreign fishing vessels; excessive overtime involving eight foreign fishing vessels; physical and sexual abuse involving seven foreign fishing vessels.
The report also reveals a system of recruitment that traps many Indonesian migrant fishers in conditions of forced labor. One Indonesian migrant fisher onboard Taiwan owned fishing vessel Chin Chun 12 claimed to have not received any salary for the first six months; while another Indonesian migrant fisher onboard Taiwan fishing vessel Lien Yi Hsing 12 reportedly received only $50 in the first four months.
According to the Taiwan Fisheries Agency, as of June 2019, some 21,994 migrant fishers from Indonesia and 7,730 from the Philippines are reportedly working on Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels. These two countries combined represent the majority of migrant fishers on Taiwan’s distant water fleets a $2 billion industry and one of the top five distant water fishing fleets on the high seas.
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