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Forced labor of Indonesian crewmen persists on foreign vessels: Report
More Indonesian migrant workers working aboard foreign fishing vessels are filing reports on alleged withholding of wages, abusive working and living conditions, deception, as well as abuse of vulnerability.
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Activists from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) and Greenpeace Indonesia line up a series of mock-up grave markers in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Aug. 27, 2020. They demanded that the government pass a regulation on the protection of Indonesian crewmen amid an increase in cases of mistreatment and violence against Indonesian crewmen working on foreign fishing vessels. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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orsening forced labor practices have prompted more Indonesian migrant workers aboard foreign fishing vessels to report their conditions to authorities amid a lack of government oversight from land, a recent report has suggested.
The report, titled “Forced Labor at Sea: The Case of Indonesian Migrant Fisher”, was based on complaints received by the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) between September 2014 and June 2020. The union worked with environmental group Greenpeace Indonesia for the report.
The union received 338 complaints of forced labor from Indonesian crewmen aboard foreign-flagged fishing ships during the period.
According to a 1930 International Labour Organization (ILO) convention, forced labor is defined as “all work or service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. The report highlighted 11 indicators of forced labor, including deception, isolation, intimidation, as well as abuse of working and living conditions.
Read also: Indonesian sailors’ deaths on Chinese fishing vessel raise questions about working conditions
The report highlighted that the number of complaints has been steadily increasing over the years. In 2020, the SBMI received up to 104 complaints, the highest in recent years, compared to 85 in 2019.
The complaints were not only made against nine Indonesian manning agencies that recruited the crewmen but also against 26 fishing companies in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan Ivory Coast and Nauru where the workers were stationed.
