Slavery

SEAFOOD, SLAVERY, AND THE FISH WITH A STORY

arengel

Thailand is the world’s third largest exporter of seafood and seafood products. The European Union imported more than $1.15 billion worth of seafood from Thailand in 2013, while the value of seafood imports by the United States exceeded $1.6 billion in 2014. If you live in the US or Europe and purchase shrimp at your local supermarket, it likely came from Thailand, and it is just as likely that it came from slave boats. The situation is pervasive, occurring across sectors, from fishers to processors and in different species, so it is not just shrimp but other seafood products as well.

Trafficking of men and boys from Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand onto fishing boats by brokers is widespread. The majority of these boys and men are illiterate, recruited from rural areas where jobs are scarce. Unfortunately, Thai government officials for years have either turned a blind eye or are complicit in these abuses. Even though last year the State Department blacklisted Thailand for failing to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking, placing the country in the ranks of North Korea, Syria and Iran, there were no additional sanctions. The United States continues to buy about 20 percent of the country’s $7 billion annual exports in the industry.

Research conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), Thai academic institutions, international and national nongovernmental organizations, and global trade union federations has uncovered that work on Thai fishing vessels is extremely abusive. Problems include widespread and systematic use of forced labor, frequent physical abuse leading in some cases to extrajudicial killings, excessive work hours ranging up to 20 hours per day, non-payment of wages, inadequate food and medical services, and dangerous working conditions causing serious injuries to workers.

Crewmembers have reported being punched, beaten with metal rods, deprived of sleep, imprisoned without food or water, and forced to continue working after injury. Travel documents are often confiscated and withheld; cases of abandonment are also reported. Violations of fair and promised pay are common, particularly the extraction of “agency fees” and the withholding of pay at the end of the contract period. Recruited crew members may pay up to several times their supposed monthly wage for these “fees”, and there have been reported examples of fishers working without pay for several years.

The Thai fishing industry remains heavily reliant on trafficked and forced labor. Poor and chaotic fisheries management has resulted in the majority of Thailand’s fisheries becoming over-exploited. As boat operators have looked to cut costs, working conditions and wages have suffered, causing many workers to turn away from the industry. This situation has led to a significant labor shortage, with a shortfall estimated to be as high as 50,000 people and increasing. This labor shortage fuels abusive practices in the fishing industry, with employers and brokers resorting to deception, corruption, coercion and violence in order to meet the demand for workers.

Fishing boat owners and captains have regularly resisted efforts to regulate conditions of work on fishing boats, and have denied that abuses occur. The profit margin for them is considerable. Widespread human trafficking and abuse is allowed to continue, in part, because the supply chain remains a black box, even to those within the industry. Even though most distributors, buyers, and exporters of seafood are aware that human rights abuse is a problem in the industry, most of them do not believe it happens in their company’s supply chain.

Consumers are also blind to this situation on many fronts. Between 25 and 70 percent of all fish sold in North America and Europe is mislabeled—wrong species or wrong country of origin. As a result of mislabeling, consumers do not know what kind fish they buy, where it comes from, or the human cost involved in fishing it. The fish we buy and eat do not have a story.

Customers are willing to pay for a story, and that willingness to pay can be a vehicle for profound environmental and social change. For instance, Starbucks tells its customers the story of Fair Trade coffee, and customers at the supermarket buy cage-free eggs and grass-fed beef based on the story behind the products. These labels and the stories they tell are about making the world a better, fairer and more compassionate place, and customers are willing to pay for that.

With regards to seafood, a consumer who understands that the reduced price of seafood at the local supermarket is the result of the slavery and inhumane treatment of those who fish it, or the result of unsustainable fishing practices, might prefer to pay a higher price for seafood caught by a local fisherman who fishes sustainably and who treats its employees with dignity. The story matters.

Bar codes and auditable traceability technology can help the supply chain carry better stories. However, customers must also do their part and demand a more responsible fishing industry even if prices for seafood increase. Some argue that customers will not pay more for their seafood regardless of where it comes from, but fifteen years ago, many argued that no one would pay extra for coffee that delivered a guaranteed price to farmers, and today Fair Trade coffee is everywhere. For those who care about human rights and sustainability, the first step is to ask for the fish with a good story.

 

THE GIRLS ARE GONE, THE GOVERNMENT MUST RESPOND

arengel

Any parent can only imagine the horror of their child being kidnapped. Now multiply that by over 300. Then, add the fear of knowing that your child is in the hands of a volatile terrorist group, the frustration of seeing how your government fails in its duties to protect their people, and the impotence of not being able to speak up for fear of retribution against your child.

On April 14, men dressed in military uniforms abducted over 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. Given the number of attacks by jihadists at many schools in the state Borno, the girls initially believed that the unexpected visitors had come to take them to a safe place. Instead it was islamist group Boko Haram that later claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

The group’s name is a Hausa phrase, which translates, as “Western education is sinful.” The terrorist organization seeks to establish a “pure” Islamic state ruled by sharia law, and to stop what it deems “Westernization.” Educating girls goes against their ideals. Boko Haram has been fighting an insurgency in northern Nigeria for the past five years and is responsible for thousands of deaths. This year alone, more than 1,500 people have been killed in the violence.

The girls kidnapped were between the age of 15 and 18, while 53 escaped, more than 276 are still being held captive. There have been unconfirmed reports that some of them had been forced to marry their captors or were taken to neighboring Chad and Cameroon and sold as brides for $12. As former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who is now United Nations special envoy on education observed, the girls’ desperate families do not know “whether they’re about to be murdered or used as sex slaves”.

Last Monday militants from Boko Haram kidnapped eight more girls from a Nigerian village. The abductions came hours after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was seen on a widely-circulated video vowing to continue kidnapping the daughters of Christians, forcing them to convert to Islam, and selling them into slavery. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” said the man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in the video.

Nigeria is a Federal Constitutional Democracy and the most populous country in Africa. Its economy (GDP) in 2014 became the largest in Africa, and the world’s 26th largest. Nigeria is expected to become one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2050 and is considered to be an Emerging market by the World Bank. Additionally, Nigeria is one of three countries that have just announced their endorsement of a Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, an initiative by the British government, which has been signed by more than three-quarters of UN member states.

It has been three weeks after the girls were seized, and there is mounting anger in Nigeria about the government’s failure to locate and rescue them. Two days after the kidnappings, the Nigerian military said that the girls were free, which turned out to be untrue. For three weeks, President Goodluck Jonathan said nothing and has yet to visit the region. When he finally began speaking about the abductions, he criticized the parents for not cooperating with the police and not sharing information. He has said his government is doing all it can to rescue the girls, however, his wife, first lady Patience Jonathan, has been accused by activists of ordering the detention of protest leaders who were calling for more action from authorities to rescue the teenagers. It was reported that she called some of the mothers to meet with her and told them to be quiet, as they were bringing shame and embarrassment to Nigeria.

It is believed that the Nigerian schoolgirls are still alive – and could be rescued. On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that U.S. intelligence officials would head to Nigeria to help with the search of the abducted girls. The Nigerian government needs to step up to the plate, take advantage of the help being offered, and bring the girls to safety. Soon.