The “Taiwan-US Bilateral Consultation on Fishery Labor Rights and Benefits” was held on September 2, US time, in Washington, D.C. The Taiwan Fisheries Agency (TFA) met up with the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, US Department of Labor (DOL/ILAB) for exchanging information and experience on safeguarding fishery labour rights.
TFA mentioned that Taiwan showed its strong commitment on improving and safeguarding the rights and welfare of migrant fishermen working on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing vessels, and also briefly shared its “Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights” with the US.
In the meeting, the US DOL/ILAB emphasized that reducing the prevalence of forced labour is the key of removing a good from the list of TVPRA. The US especially noticed that Taiwan would like to have more inspectors to conduct labor inspections and also provide additional measures on safeguarding the rights and welfare of migrant fishermen on Taiwanese fishing vessels. With that, the US hope the prevalence of forced labour can be reduced; moreover, with Taiwan’s effort on the implementation of social protection programmes and the establishment of migrant fishermen unions, the US also look forward to seeing Taiwan have a better social mechanism on monitoring fishery labour rights.
Finally, TFA wish the US may have a better understanding of Taiwan’s efforts on improving and safeguarding the human rights of migrant fishermen on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing vessels. Besides, TFA also took this opportunity to pay a visit to the Greenpeace USA office. TFA emphasized the co-operation between Taiwan and the US, in public and in private, and shared the same goal to improve and safeguard the human rights and welfare of the migrant fishermen. Taiwan wishes to co-operate and collaborate with all like-minded countries and NGOs on the relevant issues.