Opening Remarks at the Second Regional Meeting on the Protection of Migrant Fishers: ASEAN Information Sharing on ‘Guidelines on Flag State Inspection of Working and Living Conditions on Board Fishing Vessels’

• H.E. Minister Hanif Dhakiri, Minister of Manpower, Republic of Indonesia
• Mr. Thomas Darmawan Tjokronegoro, representative of Indonesian Employers’ Association (APINDO) and colleagues of the ASEAN Confederation of Employers
• Mr. Sonny Pattisellano of Kesatuan Pelaut Indonesia, representing our union partners in Indonesia; and colleagues of trade unions from the region.
• Jacob Thoppil, Director of International Cooperation for Indonesia and Southeast Asia, Embassy of Canada and Matthew Straub, First Secretary (Development), Embassy of Canada, Jakarta
• Bronwyn Robbins, Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Mission to ASEAN, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Colleagues of the ILO from the regional office, headquarters and Jakarta Office

Distinguished participants from ASEAN Member States, Employers’ and Workers’ organizations, civil society groups and distinguished speakers.

Selamat pagi (Good morning) to all of us! I am pleased to welcome you all to the Second Regional Meeting on the Protection of Migrant Fishers: ASEAN Information Sharing on ‘Guidelines on Flag State Inspection of Working and Living Conditions on Board Fishing Vessels’

This is the second regional meeting on work in fishing. In September 2013, the ILO and the Indonesian Government organized a Regional Meeting on Work in Fishing: Increased Knowledge Base and Sharing Good Practices for the Protection of Migrant Workers, with full support from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I recall that in that 2013 tripartite meeting participants from around Southeast Asia discussed international standards on work in fishing, shared national policy and legislative frameworks, and shared experiences on the protection of migrant fishers in this sector in the region and around the world.

Today’s meeting will focus on labour inspection at sea and enforcement of flag and port state controls, discuss more detailed cooperation among ASEAN Member States; review the international standards and instruments on work in fishing, and share national policy and legislative developments.

I would like to convey my sincere appreciation to Indonesia for hosting us two times in 2013 and 2015. This shows a consistent commitment of the Indonesian Government, not only the Ministry of Manpower, but also other Ministries, including Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and Ministry of Transport, as well as employers’ organizations and union counterparts, to address the vulnerability of those who are working in fishing vessels, in particular those who have migrated to work. Thank you very much, Pak Menteri Hanif!

I would like to also convey my appreciation to both Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the donor of the ILO ASEAN Triangle Project and to Australian Agency for International Aid and Development, the donor of the ILO GMS Triangle Project, for their support to the two ILO Projects on labour migration in the region to organize this very important meeting in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower. I thank their representatives for being here today and showing their continued support to ILO’s work. The ASEAN and GMS TRIANGLE projects both promote and protect the rights of migrant workers in the region. The projects have taken a sectoral approach and have focused on the fishing sector, as workers, particularly migrant workers, employed in it are most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Their efforts so far have been visible and include bringing together ASEAN Member States to discuss regional concerns. In Indonesia, ASEAN TRIANLGE and ILO Geneva have supported the Convention 188 Gap Analysis, which you will learn more about in today’s session. In Thailand, GMS TRIANGLE has supported improvements in labour inspection in the fishing sector and worked with the Government to improve its Ministerial Regulations on work in fishing.

We also thank the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) for providing funding to representatives from the fisheries departments.

It is for many reasons that we have kindly invited you all to attend our meeting in Jakarta today:

• In many areas of the world, we see growing attention to employment conditions in the fishing sector. Countries in the region are moving forward and implementing new labour reforms, such as in New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea and Thailand, as mentioned just a moment ago.
• As we have seen in the news headlines recently, Indonesia, under the leadership of the new President, has emphasized the importance of the marine and fishing sectors by including them in national development priorities.
• When we look at the data from FAO in 2012, the global fishing industry is disproportionately represented in this region, with roughly 87 per cent of the world's fishers and 73 per cent of fishing vessels coming from major fishing nations such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and China. When we look closer at the ASEAN region, we realize that the issue of work in fishing brings together several countries. For example, Cambodian and Myanmar migrant fishers work on Thai vessels fishing in Malaysian and Indonesian waters. Countries outside the ASEAN region are also important partners, for example, Vietnamese fishers work on vessels registered in the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China).
• Unfortunately, the importance, growth and development of the fishing sector is not yet matched with policies and enforcement to adequately protect the rights of the workers in it, much less those working on fishing vessels.
• We know there is a high incidence of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in ASEAN, which at times is also linked to exploitative labour conditions.
• The ILO is concerned with the exploitative labour practices migrant and national fishers are subject to. The nature of the work in fishing means that working hours and periods away from home are long, living and work conditions are tough and there are a number of hazards on board the vessels. There is limited inspection of working and living conditions; and migrants have limited access to grievance procedures or complaints mechanism.
• The ILO has developed a labour standard specifically for the fishing sector. The ILO Convention on Work in Fishing (No. 188) was adopted in 2007 with overwhelming support from governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations around the world. My colleague Brandt Wagner from ILO Geneva will take you through the convention in detail in the first Session. As with all ILO Conventions, we strongly promote the ratification of this Convention to all of our Member States, including, and particularly, to all ASEAN Member States invited to this meeting.

Today’s meeting is a part of ILO’s attempt to facilitate the effective implementation of Convention No. 188, particularly on labour inspection and enforcement issues. In September 2015, ILO will convene a global meeting of experts to discuss Guidelines on Flag State Inspection of Working and Living Conditions on Board Fishing Vessels. Later today and tomorrow, you will have the opportunity to discuss related issues among one another. We hope that through the discussion, you can share your inputs on the best possible ways to further implement the Convention, and how we all can coordinate better for improving the protection of workers in fishing sectors, particularly migrant workers.

Lastly, I do hope that this meeting can facilitate fruitful discussions among all of you, leading to deeper and better common understanding of the relevant international standards, the efforts of governments to better protect migrant fishers and the views of our workers’ and employers’ organizations to promote decent work for all, including those who are making a living for their loved ones; putting bread, or should I say “nasi” in Bahasa Indonesia, “the rice”, for many of you who are coming from this region, on the table, and shelter over the heads of their families, by facing all the challenging situation on the deck of fishing vessels, as national or migrant fishers.

I wish you all the best for the coming two days.