Preventing Human Rights Violations

KOMPAS/BM LUKITA GRAHADYARINI

A ferry transports 242 fishing vessel crew members (ABK) on May 19, 2015 from fishing company PT Pusaka Benjina Resources in Maluku’s Aru Islands regency to Tual for repatriation to Myanmar and Cambodia. A ferry also transported 42 elderly, underage or sick Thai crew members to Tual for treatment. The fishing company is suspected of human trafficking.

Fishing boat crews face many threats, including slavery. They can now lower their risk of being victim to human rights abuses can through a mobile application.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS —The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched an application to detect victims of human rights abuses in the fisheries sector. The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP) implemented the Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) application at 138 fishing ports in Indonesia early this year.

IOM Indonesia interim chief of mission Dejan Micevski said in a press statement that since 2014, IOM had cooperated with the ministry through the Task Force to Eradicate Illegal Fishing (Task Force 115) to combat trafficking in persons, human smuggling and forced labor in the fisheries sector.

From November 2014 to October 2015 in cooperation with the ministry, the IOM had provided assistance to 1,342 crew members of fishing vessels who had become victims of human trafficking that were discovered in Benjina, Ambon (Maluku) and Pontianak (West Kalimantan). The program identified the victims, provided temporary shelters, daily needs and health services while they waited to be returned to their area of origin, returned the fishing vessel crew to their areas of origin, and provided mediation to recover their losses.

The discovery of the human trafficking case led the IOM to develop TIPs, a mobile application that helps detect human trafficking at sea, said Micevski.

The TIPs application contains 10 questions for officers to ask the crew of fishing vessels, and are available in six languages: Indonesian, English, Burmese, Khmer, Vietnamese and Thai.

KOMPAS/BM LUKITA GRAHADYARINI

Fishing vessel crew members (ABK) from Myanmar and Cambodia rest on a pile of baggage as they are ferried on May 19, 2015 to Tual, Maluku, for repatriation. Fishing company PT Pusaka Benjina Resources in Maluku’s Aru Islands regency is suspected of trafficking in ABK

Human trafficking

Maritime affairs ministry secretary-general Nilanto Perbowo said that fishing vessel crew members and fishermen faced many different risks, including slavery and human rights abuse. "Therefore, we are using the application to monitor and prevent human rights violations in the fisheries sector," he said.

According to Nilanto, Indonesia’s fisheries industry must be free of all forms of human rights abuses. "The government must ensure that fish are obtained from legal, registered and regulated activities that ensure the protection of human rights for workers," he said.

Micevski said that officers could use the results of the TIPs application interview questions to conduct further identification procedures using verification forms that contained more detailed questions. (LKT)