Armstrong, Chris (2020) ‘Abuse, exploitation, and floating jurisdiction: Protecting workers at sea’ 2022. Journal of Political Philosophy, 30 (1). pp. 3-25.
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In 2013, the Bangladeshi media reported that at least 40 fishermen had been bound hand and foot and tossed into the sea to drown. Despite video evidence, no prosecutions followed. In a survey of Cambodian men and boys sold to Thai fishing boats the following year, many reported having witnessed officers killing workers. These abuses are extreme examples of a much broader pattern. Some sectors of the fishing industry remain heavily dependent on forced labour, defined in international law as labour carried out by workers who have not offered themselves voluntarily for work, and who continue to work under the threat of penalties. They also regularly expose workers to violence and mistreatment, as well as to dangerous and unsanitary working conditions. Their catches eventually find their way on to the plates of consumers in wealthy economies. The Gulf of Thailand, for instance—the epicentre of forced labour in the fishing industry—is also the biggest source of shrimp for the US market, in addition to being a major supplier of raw materials for the pet food, dietary supplement, and aquaculture industries. The abuse of workers on the margins of the global economy is, of course, depressingly widespread. Back on dry land, ‘Export Processing Zones’ often boast of their relaxed regulatory environments—meaning, in practice, that many of a country's safety and environmental laws may be suspended, and union representation forbidden. Millions of migrant workers are also rendered vulnerable to exploitation by the conditions placed upon their entry visas, or by their lack of them. It is not the case, therefore, that fishers are alone in their plight. To the contrary, in many ways the conditions they can face—working in confined spaces, performing exhausting work, often in extremes of temperature, supervised by people who do not speak their language and who may be dismissive of their culture or religion—are typical of the migrant worker experience. But it is true that the sources of fishers' vulnerability are in some respects distinctive. Responding adequately to them may, therefore, require distinctive remedies.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Fishing Industry, Forced Labour, Migrant Worker, Labour Abuse, Protecting Workers, Coastal Security |
| Subjects: | Decent Work |
| Depositing User: | Kokila ICSF Krish |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Nov 2024 05:59 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Nov 2024 05:59 |
| URI: | http://icsfarchives.net/id/eprint/20776 |
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