London, UK. / Suva, Fiji. Three Filipino crewmen have been left stranded in Fiji by their employers and manning agency. The seafarers have found themselves with few options and remain in limbo having contacted affiliated humanitarian support workers to Human Rights at Sea and provided firsthand testimony.
London. UK. / Suva. Fiji. Following the public highlighting on 16 January by Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) of the case of two exploited Indonesian fishers of the Chinese-owned, Fijian-flagged He Shun 38 (No.00359) vessel, both crew are reported as being repatriated to Indonesia on Thursday 28th January with some wages paid. Further, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has reported to HRAS that the Fiji Fishing Industry Association (FFIA) has de-listed the He Shun from MSC-Certification.
London, UK. / Suva, Fiji. Humanitarian ship visitors working with the UK charitable NGO, Human Rights at Sea, have been alerted to exploited Indonesian crew on a Chinese owned Fijian-flagged long-liner abandoned in the Port of Suva without their wages apparently being paid for 12 months. Crew circumstances include having to continue to work onboard without pay, having minimal access to communications, allegedly being kept on the vessel without shore access and their identity documents being retained.
"‘Once I was transshipped [the action of transferring fish or crew between vessels]. I was put into a steel crate (the one they keep fish in) along with my belongings and my papers in a plastic bag. They put floats or buoys around the crate so that it would float; they gave me a torch. It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon when they dropped me over the side with my gear but it wasn’t until nearly 10 o’clock before the second vessel came and picked me up: I was all alone, wet and floating in a steel crate, in the black ocean."
London.UK. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has launched a new web portal covering the Pacific region. The new platform was announced at the Geneva based UN Forum on Business and Human Rights forum 'Advancing the BHR Agenda in the Pacific' with the aim to bring the broad range of Pacific business and human rights challenges into sharper focus, and amplify local and community voices from the region.
Reporting in Fijian media in the July edition of Islands Business Magazine has highlighted the work being undertaken by Human Rights at Sea and NGO partners in the evidential collation of cases of abuses in the Pacific region and particularly in relation to tuna fishing fleets.
Press Release 6th August 2019 London. UK. Human Rights at Sea is pleased to report that as of 23 May 2019, the 17 member State Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has enacted new agreed minimum terms and conditions in relation to crew employment conditions in support of enhanced protections for Pacific fisheries seafarers largely based on...
Opinion Piece 4th July 2019 Suva, Fiji. The Fijian partner to Human Rights at Sea, the NGO Pacific Dialogue, released an OP-ED for the occasion of the 2019 ‘Day of the Seafarer’ which is reproduced for an increased awareness of the history, issues and work being carried out in the Pacific by seafarers which is...
Press Release 18th May 2019 London. UK. The recent Human Rights at Sea and NGO Pacific Dialogue Fijian fisheries case study about Mesake Kaisuva by his widow Salote Kaisuva, has been used by WWF Western and Central Pacific Tuna Programme Team to brief the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Working Group (MCSWG)...
Press Release 23rd March 2019 “The vessel berthed early before I could get to the wharf [which is not far-distant] and I saw my husband staggering along the path to our house, bent over and clutching his stomach; I could see in his eyes that he was approaching death.” London. UK. ‘In their Own Words’....
