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Indonesia
OpinionLetters

Letters | Seafood slavery: Indonesia must better protect the rights of its fishermen

  • In Asia, only Thailand has ratified the International Labour Organization’s 2007 Work in Fishing Convention
  • Indonesia, which has the world’s second largest fishery sector worth US$27 billion, has to do more to better protect maritime worker rights

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Fishermen carry their fishing nets along the shore in Banda Aceh in 2019. Photo: AFP
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The ocean is one of our most valuable natural resources. Yet ocean inequities abound. According to the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, there are six major areas of concern: sustainable economic development, blue carbon management, human rights protection for maritime labour, the North Natuna sea issue including marine debris generated by foreign vessels, fisheries management, and the protection for small fishermen.
Of these, the issue of human rights abuses has been taken up in the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea announced this year.

From piracy, violence at sea, modern slavery and migrant smuggling to child labour and socially responsible seafood, many issues need to be addressed. As an ocean constitution, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea makes no explicit mention of human rights. However, Article 99 specifically prohibits the transport of slaves and Article 98 makes it clear that ships must help anyone at sea who is lost or in distress.

In 2014, the Indonesian government unveiled its vision for the archipelagic country, which stretches from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, to become a “global maritime fulcrum” to capitalise on its vast maritime potential. This has since been codified as the national sea policy and expanded. This policy is based on, among other things, the equality and equity of ocean development.

03:23

Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship

Body of Indonesian fisherman dumped overboard amid allegations of abuse on Chinese ship
The 2015 Benjina seafood slavery case shocked the Indonesian public when it was revealed that more than 2,000 migrant fishermen had been kept on the remote Indonesian island. Much of the slave labour came from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, on Thai fishing vessels.
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