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ROME / HUMAN RIGHTS FISHING INDUSTRY
STORY: ROME / HUMAN RIGHTS FISHING INDUSTRY
TRT: 01:29
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 NOVEMBER 2016, ROME, ITALY
1. Wide shot, speakers sitting down behind dais at World Fisheries Day event
2. Med shot, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State and José Graziano da Silva, FAO Di-rector-General, sitting down
3. SOUNDBITE (English) José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“FAO and the Holy See are calling for collaboration between all partners to work together in order to end human rights abuses along the entire fisheries value chain.”
4. Med shot, audience
5. SOUNDBITE (English) José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“We have to guarantee that the seafood reaching our plates has been produced not only in an environmen-tally sustainable manner; but also in a manner that supports the socioeconomic well-being of those who har-vest and process it.”
6. Med shot, audience
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State:
“We must do this by focusing on three fundamental objectives: aid for the exploited and degraded fish-ermen, so as to facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration; compliance by States and Governments with the existing international rules on fishing, and, specifically, working in the fishing sector; fighting against trafficking and smuggling using means, including coercive measures, to impose the rule of law and human rights standard.”
8. Wide shot, dais
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Vatican today (21 Nov) called for an intensified inter-national push to stamp out human rights abuses in the world's fishing industry — including trafficking of people and forced labour — as well as an end to the scourge of illegal fishing.
Speaking at an event co-organized by FAO and the Vatican to mark World Fisheries Day, the UN agency's Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that — although fishing provides food and income for millions of people, the same industry that offers so many opportunities also victimizes the most vulnerable.
Graziano da Silva said "FAO and the Holy See are calling for collaboration between all partners to work to-gether in order to end human rights abuses along the entire fisheries value chain."
He said “we have to guarantee that the seafood reaching our plates has been produced not only in an envi-ronmentally sustainable manner; but also in a manner that supports the socio-economic well-being of those who harvest and process it."
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in his keynote address said that action is needed on three broad fronts: “aid for the exploited and degraded fishermen, so as to facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration; compliance by States and Governments with the existing international rules on fishing, and, specifically, working in the fishing sector; fighting against trafficking and smuggling using means, including coercive measures, to impose the rule of law and human rights standard.”
Both FAO and the Vatican hailed the news that enough countries have now ratified Convention 188 on to trigger its entry-into-force in November 2017.
The Convention is designed to ensure that workers in the fishing sector benefit from safety and health care, written work agreements, and social security protections.
Victims have described enduring a raft of ills while working on-board vessels in remote locations for months or even years at a time. These include forced labour and debt servitude, beatings and psychological abuse, inadequate food, and unsanitary living conditions. Hours are long and hard and workers are sometimes supplied with amphetamines to keep up.
It is common that workers are lured into these situations via deceptive or coercive recruitment processes. Once on-board, they can remain trapped for months — even years.
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