Statement from the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers
2024/05/27
The Fisheries Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, published an official document to invite civil organizations, fishers unions, fishery industry councils, and local fishers associations that concern fishers’ human rights and Chunghwa Telecom to attend a meeting for the purpose of “Formulating the Guidelines for the Management of Crew Members on Distant Water Fishing Vessels and the Guidelines for the Provision of Communication Facilities for Crew Members by Distant Water Fishing Vessel Operators” (hereinafter referred to as the Dual Guidelines) on May 27th.
Postpone the Meeting, for that the Notice is Too Short
Once the official document and the draft of the Dual Guidelines were sent, there would be a one to two-day mailing process. For example, the Taiwanese Association for Human Rights only received the official document of May 23rd. Invited parties only have 4 to 10 days (including weekends) to read the documents and prepare for the meeting upon receiving the notice and the draft. For a matter as important as protecting fisher rights on distant waters, it is safe to say that the Fisheries Agency has held a meeting where everyone felt rushed and could not properly prepare. Thus, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers demands that the meeting scheduled on the afternoon of May 27th should be postponed.
With Limited Resources for Translation, Fishers Unions Struggled to Form Consensus, Hindering Fishers from Participating in Discussions
Fishers on Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels primarily originate from Indonesia and the Philippines. For such an important meeting concerning their labor rights and working conditions, its notification and the draft of the Dual Guidelines did not include Bahasa, Tagalog, or English translations for the fishers to comprehend. After the Taiwanese Association for Human Rights reported this situation to the point of contact, they were informed that the Fisheries Agency did provide Bahasa translation to the Pingtung Fishers Union and would appoint translators to assist during the meeting (but would not offer Tagalog or English translations for Filipino fishers). Distant water fishers work busy schedules. Fisher unions also require a longer period to collect opinions and hold democratic conversations through their organizations. Such a short notice, coupled with the limited resources available for translation, would bar fisher unions and their representatives from meaningfully participating in the May 27th meeting.
Civil Organizations Submitted Their Draft, but the Fisheries Agency Has Not Clearly Responded
“Wi-Fi Now for the Fishers’ Rights," a coalition consisting of many Taiwanese and foreign civil organizations, has started drafting guidelines regarding how distant water fishers could utilize Wi-Fi during their work on fishing vessels and has submitted the draft to the Fisheries Agency for further discussion. Unfortunately, despite having held many meetings in communication with the coalition, the Fisheries Agency has failed to offer a clear response to the submitted draft. The Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers hereby poses the Fisheries Agency with the following questions: Why, instead of addressing the topic based on the draft submitted by Taiwanese and foreign civil organizations, did the Fisheries Agency come up with a draft completely from the perspectives of the fishery managements? How, without any substantive input from the workers, did the Fisheries Agency come up with this draft?
Considering the Power Imbalance between Distant Water Fishers and Industry Managements, Fisher Unions Shall Be Consulted in a Separate Meeting
In addition, with the systematic and structural injustices under the current policies governing distant water fishers such as the two-tier hiring system, the fishers’ ineligibility for the Labor Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, distant water fishers are faced with a power imbalance against the employers and fishery managements in practice. However, the Fisheries Agency is now holding the meeting to debate the Dual Guidelines clause-by-clause while involving various stakeholders and on a short notice, which allows for very little time for fishers unions to be prepared. Such a power imbalance would only be exacerbated when members of the fisher unions are hired by the participating managements, resulting in a situation in which the fishers would not be able to effectively contribute their opinions to the Dual Guidelines under informed consent. This may even evolve into conflicts between multiple stakeholders, making it difficult to reach any consensus.
Thus, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers demands that the meeting and even any substantive discussion about these Guidelines should be postponed until the aforementioned structural and procedural problems are adequately addressed.
The Dual Guidelines Need Major Amendments ,Rather than Minor Edits, after Widely Gathering Fishers’ Opinions
A Tripartite Mediating Mechanism with Balanced Governance between the Fisher Unions, the Fishery Managements, and the Government Should Be Established through the Dual Guidelines
The current draft of the Dual Guidelines is preoccupied with an industry-oriented, employers-based mindset of labor “management”. It fails to prioritize collecting and investigating the honest opinions from the fishers to fulfill a “human rights” mindset established on the basic labor rights of distant water fishers. If it were true that the Dual Guidelines, as claimed in the current draft, are “based on the common-good partnership between the fishery managements, the captains, and the crews,” a tripartite mediating mechanism between the fisher unions, the employers, and the government should be established through the Dual Guidelines. However, this mechanism remains absent in the current draft.
It is also worth noting that to successfully operate such a mediating mechanism while conducting distant water fishing, the government would need to legally enforce the equipment of Wi-Fi devices across all distant water fishing vessels and allow all distant water fishers. Take the draft of the “Guidelines for the Provision of Communication Facilities for Crew Members by Distant Water Fishing Vessel Operators” as an example, despite incremental improvements in “recommending to offer at least 40MB of data usage and at least three hours of time to use Wi-Fi services each month,” such regulations still go against the fishers’ actual needs and fall far behind other countries’ practices. For instance, in South Korea, distant water fishing vessels are required to provide 3 hours to use Wi-Fi services every day. Only 40MB of data usage is also extremely insufficient, let alone that the current draft requires fishers to pay for Wi-Fi services. With such limited data usage offered, it may ultimately result in lower wages for the fishers if they end up using additional data.
The government and its authorities have to better implement laws and regulations rather than constantly creating guidelines, measures, or reminders that are not legally binding. A safer pathway for complaints and grievances is also necessary to truly address the challenges fishers face without any fear of retaliation from the employers.
Members of the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers:
Taiwanese Association for Human Rights (TAHR)
Yilan Migrant Fisher Union (YMFU)
Serve the People Association (SPA)
Taiwanese International Workers' Association (TIWA)
Greepeace
Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
Press Contact: Yi-Hsiang Shih
Mandarin version ：https://www.tahr.org.tw/news/3534
