The Fisheries Agency on Monday said it had updated the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on its efforts to eliminate forced labor on Taiwanese fishing vessels, during a Sept. 2 meeting in Washington.
Taiwanese seafood products were added to the U.S.’ “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” in 2020, and the Fisheries Agency said it was hoping Washington would remove them from the next list expected to be published later this month.
The DOL’s decision in 2020 came after 19 NGOs stated in a letter to the department that “forced labor on Taiwanese longline fishing vessels continues unabated with little to no consequences.”
In a statement, the Fisheries Agency said a Taiwanese delegation, led by Director-General Chang Chih-sheng (???), had held a meeting with representatives from the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs on Sept. 2.
The meeting had a theme of “Taiwan-U.S. Bilateral Consultation on Fishery Labor Rights and Benefits,” according to the Fisheries Agency.
In an interview with CNA, Lin Kuo-ping (???), deputy director general of the agency, said on Monday that the delegation shared with its U.S. counterparts Taiwan’s progress in improving the human rights of fishermen.
The Fisheries Agency said it had informed officials at the DOL that Taiwan’s Cabinet approved its Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights on May 20, 2022.
According to the Fisheries Agency, the action plan covers major strategies for strengthening labor, recruitment processes and management of foreign-flagged fishing vessels and recruitment agents as well as improving the monitoring and management of living and working conditions on longline fishing vessels.
The agency said that in order to be taken off the DOL’s list, Taiwan would be expected to increase the number of labor inspectors and inspections, as well as implement additional measures to safeguard the welfare of fishermen.
The agency added that the U.S. hoped the prevalence of forced labor could be reduced with the implementation of social protection programs and the establishment of migrant fishermen unions.
During its stay in the U.S., the Taiwanese delegation also visited the office of Greenpeace U.S. branch, to convey Taiwan’s strong support for improving and safeguarding the rights and benefits of migrant fishermen, according to the Fisheries Agency.
Greenpeace had been one of the first to draw wider attention to claims of labor rights violations on Taiwanese-flagged longline fishing vessels in a 2019 report entitled “Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas.”
Meanwhile, the agency released a revision to the Regulations on the Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew Members, saying the minimum monthly wage has been raised to US$550 from US$450, and hiked the limit of insurance compensation for deceased crew members to NT$1.5 million from the previous NT$1 million and set the maximum of pay-as-you-go medical insurance compensation at NT$300,000.
In addition, the new regulation has also set the standard of minimum daily rest hours in line with the ILO C188 Convention for migrant fishermen.
Currently, Taiwan employed more than 21,000 migrant workers, largely from Indonesia and the Philippines, according to the Fisheries Agency.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel