Date of Publication
2021 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Human Rights
Keywords
Human Rights, human rights, migrant fishing workers, distant water fishing (DWF) nations, forced labor, human trafficking, Taiwan
Description
Taiwan is one of the largest distant water fishing (DWF) nations worldwide. As the domestic population structure of Taiwan has changed, the domestic distant water fishery industrial labour force has gradually been replaced by migrant fishing workers. Due to the occurrence of several events in recent years and increased attention from international and domestic societies, the entire labour management system has improved. This study describes the process of change in the labour market in Taiwan’s DWF industry and several major events affecting the revision of the legal system since 2017. In addition, this study examines whether Taiwan’s institutional changes can effectively solve various types of forced labour problems by referring to the forced labour indicators established by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This study shows that Taiwan’s DWF labour market has gradually improved migrant fishing worker protection following several major events and reforms. These improvements include regulated minimum wage and working conditions on board and decreased law and regulation violations. The survey results provide insightful views regarding the government’s response to eradicate forced labour and rights protection for migrant fishing workers in DWF. These experiences provide an important lesson for DWF nations in managing the DWF labour market. When problems related to subsequent migration occur, this paper can be used as a reform direction and management direction suggestion to protect the labour rights of fishery migrant workers.
A review of migrant labour rights protection in distant water fishing in Taiwan: From laissez-faire to regulation and challenges behind
Taiwan is one of the largest distant water fishing (DWF) nations worldwide. As the domestic population structure of Taiwan has changed, the domestic distant water fishery industrial labour force has gradually been replaced by migrant fishing workers. Due to the occurrence of several events in recent years and increased attention from international and domestic societies, the entire labour management system has improved. This study describes the process of change in the labour market in Taiwan’s DWF industry and several major events affecting the revision of the legal system since 2017. In addition, this study examines whether Taiwan’s institutional changes can effectively solve various types of forced labour problems by referring to the forced labour indicators established by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This study shows that Taiwan’s DWF labour market has gradually improved migrant fishing worker protection following several major events and reforms. These improvements include regulated minimum wage and working conditions on board and decreased law and regulation violations. The survey results provide insightful views regarding the government’s response to eradicate forced labour and rights protection for migrant fishing workers in DWF. These experiences provide an important lesson for DWF nations in managing the DWF labour market. When problems related to subsequent migration occur, this paper can be used as a reform direction and management direction suggestion to protect the labour rights of fishery migrant workers.
Comments
his is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)