The Vatican has joined with the UN Food and Agrriculture Organization in calling for intensified international action to stamp out human rights abuses, including the trafficking of people and use of forced labour, in the world’s fishing industry.
At an event held to mark World Fisheries Day, the organisations also called for an increase in efforts to end illegal fishing.
José Graziano da Silva, director-general of the FAO, said increased recent media attention on human abuses in the sector, in both developed and developing countries, has exposed instances of labour abuse, forced labour, trafficking, child labour and slavery.
“FAO and the Holy See are calling for collaboration between all partners to work together in order to end human rights abuses along the entire fisheries value chain,” he said. “We have to guarantee that the seafood reaching our plates has been produced not only in an environmentally sustainable manner; but also in a manner that supports the socio-economic well-being of those who harvest and process it.”
In a statement, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People said that while oceans provide food for billions and employment for more than 50 million people worldwide, not only is the fishing industry “one of the most unsafe” for those working in it, it is also not well known that there are “hundreds of thousands of internal/transnational migrants who are smuggled/ trafficked for forced labor on board of fishing vessels”.
The council noted that people on fishing vessals can end up in a situations of trafficking, debt bondage and slavery, “often without a way out”. “In fact, the fishing vessels stay out at sea for long periods (from a few months to several years), and the victims of these crimes find it difficult, if not impossible, to report their predicaments.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, told those gathered at the event that action was needed to provide aid to exploited fishermen to facilitate their reintegration, to ensure compliance with existing international rules on fishing; and to fight against trafficking and smuggling.
“Only by working together, and coordinating our efforts, will we be able to break the chain of exploitation that affects the fishing industry in many countries,” he said.
