Twenty-five global NGOs, including Human Rights at Sea, have united to affirm their stance against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in an official letter to Secretary John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
The signatories urged Mr Kerry to realign the US government’s efforts to oppose IUU fishing ahead of the Our Ocean Conference 2022 in April.
Signed by leaders of conservation, human rights, and labour rights organisations, the letter establishes a link between IUU fishing, forced labour, and human rights abuses at sea and in seafood supply chains.
By violating international fishing regulations, the illegal fishing activities disadvantage fishermen and seafood producers who abide by the law.
According to US navy secretary Carlos Del Toro, IUU fishing has replaced piracy as the global maritime security threat.
Initiated by ocean conservation NGO Oceana, the letter highlights the opportunity the US government has to combat these issues by ensuring full traceability and transparency in the global seafood supply chain.
Organisational signatories have encouraged Mr Kerry to back an executive order or presidential memorandum to:
- Exert White House level leadership to expedite action in combatting IUU fishing
- Close the US market to all IUU seafood products by a specified date
- Improve Seafood Import Monitoring Program implementation and enforcement
- Update the US government definition of IUU fishing and strengthen associated diplomatic mechanisms
- Require transparency through automatic identification systems (AIS) on all US flagged vessels above a certain size
- Prioritise working with interagency partners to stop forced labour and human rights abuses within seafood supply chains.
The links between IUU activities and egregious human rights abuses towards crew are clear, and so the pressure to end human rights abuse at sea must continue unabated by being relentlessly pursued at state and commercial levels
HRAS CEO David Hammond said.
In shipping, a particularly vulnerable industry in terms of human right protection, violations are a typical problem across the entire lifecycle of a ship. While shipping has shed its attention to the issue, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have added new concerns to this chronic debate.
Forced labor, excessive working hours in violation of MLC, bullying and harassment, as well as abandonment constitute the ever-lasting challenges surrounding seafarers’ rights when onboard. A typical issue often discussed is seafarers being abandoned without pay or compensation by shipping companies when there is no longer a reason to being employed.
While these are the main and diachronic issues in shipping and fisheries industries, the latest developments and emerging issues redefine the landscape of what is considered a basic human right of people at sea.
For example, the COVID-19 restrictions have shifted the focus from physical abuse and maltreatment to the freedom violation of seafarers, who remained stranded onboard for months beyond their MLC contracts and unable to see their family.
These new conditions, not only reiterated discussions surrounding seafarers’ abandonment, but also deteriorated instances of bullying and harassment as seafarers were kept confined with no way out.
