The National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT) on W ednesday attended an online meeting hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to discuss a project benefiting migrant workers on fishing boats by increasing their access to rights and services, direct assistance and accurate information.
Participants of the “Discussion on Development of the Regional Plan to Achieve Ship to Shore” included the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) as well as representatives from several other countries.
The main problem of concern for Cambodia is that migrant workers on fishing boats are often trapped by brokers who trafficked them to work in international waters such as South Africa and Papua New Guinea without realising where they have been taken.
NCCT vice-chairwoman Chou Bun Eng told Khmer Times yesterday: “We have this project to help Cambodian workers on fishing boats in international seas.”
“It’s difficult for us to know what problems they are facing in the workplace because many of the workers in the fisheries sector on boats in international waters are very far away, so it is hard to know what their challenges are,” said Bun Eng.
She said that “direct assistance” can only occur if the workers report their situation to authorities or NGOs.
“I just want to appeal to those countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia because they have the benefit of billions of dollars, but Cambodian workers have no money when they finish working and return,” said Bun Eng.
Many Cambodian workers are hired by brokers to work on fishing boats in Thailand’s Rayong province but some of them end up in other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa.
Chea Chum, a fisherman from Battambang, said that the first time a broker told him he could get more money by working on a boat to catch fish in deep sea water, he believed the broker. When he started the job, it was not like he was told. It was totally different.
“I had to work very hard and got no pay or time for breaks. We never went to shore,” said Chum.
Chan Mao, a worker from Prey Veng province, said that he was cheated by local brokers who sold him to fishing boat owners somewhere in Indonesia. “I never had time to come back to land and the boss didn’t pay me,” he said.
“Working conditions were very hard and there was no one to tell what many workers faced like not enough food, sickness or not being paid. Official documents (identification) were kept by the boss,” said Mao.
Bun Eng said: “Authorities have arrested brokers and sent them to jail if they sell Cambodians. In the past, if the brokers are arrested here, we send them to trial here.”