Not in our waters – surely?

By Good Magazine

June 2, 2017

Exploitation and slavery-like conditions are not what we associate with working in New Zealand. But what about on our seas? Libby Nicholson-Moon investigates.

Exploitation and slavery-like conditions are not what we associate with working in New Zealand. But what about on our seas? Libby Nicholson-Moon investigates.

On August 18, 2010, a few
hours before sunrise, a 38-year-old Korean fishing boat capsized and sank in
calm conditions 650km off New Zealand’s Otago coastline. The icy cold waters of
the Southern Ocean claimed the lives of the ship’s captain and five crew
members. They were fathers, brothers, sons and husbands – young men who’d
scraped together all they had, even selling valued possessions, to pay the fee
required by Indonesian bonding agents to get a job on a fishing boat. They were
contracted for two years at sea, separated from loved ones and confined to an
ageing vessel, simply in order to provide for their families. This was a job
that required more than the sacrifice of distance, or even just honest blood,
sweat and tears. It also required the surrendering of their free will, dignity,
basic human rights, and ultimately for some, their lives.

On that day, the 45
survivors of the mainly Indonesian crew were heroically rescued by the New Zealand
trawler Amaltal Atlantis, owned by Talley’s
Nelson Deep Sea Division, and brought to shore in Lyttelton Harbour. The crew
members all told the same story: they’d been
ordered to haul in an overweight net, which had caused the boat to tip over,
take on water and rapidly sink.

As details emerged about the
vessel and the appalling conditions of life on board, it became apparent that
the tragic incident was a glimpse into the ugly shadow side of New Zealand’s
billion-dollar fishing industry.

Oyang 70 before it sank in calm water

 

The ship was the Oyang 70, owned by the South Korean Sajo
Oyang Corporation. It had been fishing legally in New Zealand waters since 2002,
according to a time charter arrangement with the New Zealand company Southern
Storm Fishing Ltd. The Oyang 70 was
one of many foreign charter vessels (FCVs) that fish the New Zealand quota on
behalf of local companies. Such boats typically offload in New Zealand ports, from
where the majority of their catch is sent to China or Thailand in refrigerated
containers, to be processed and labelled either as a product of New Zealand or
of the country in which it was processed. It is then sold on to the world markets
– including back to New Zealand. The New Zealand government supports the chartering
of foreign vessels and crews to fish in our economic zone, provided the crews
receive the same terms and conditions as New Zealanders. FCVs should also be subject
to audit by the Department of Labour.

In the days following the
sinking the crew, aided by local translators, began to describe the appalling
conditions on board. They spoke of food deprivation, being forced to work
shifts for days on end without sleep, relentless verbal and physical abuse,
incorrect or unpaid wages, insufficient protective gear and a lack of safety
drills. “The crew were telling us that all they eat is fish – no rice, no
noodles, nothing else,” said the Kiwi trawler captain Greg Lyall to news
reporters at the time. “They eat what they catch, and a couple of them
said they are only allowed two fish a day to eat – that’s terrible.”

The Kiwi fishermen were also
shocked to hear that the Oyang 70’s
crew were each paid a miserly $300 for a month’s work. In news reports
following the rescue, Talley’s executive Tony Hazlett said that a close bond
had formed between the Kiwi crew of the Amaltal
Atlantis
and the 45 people they’d rescued. “The things that they heard
upset the crew of our vessel,” said Hazlett. “I hope the New Zealand
authorities will take note of it.”

Crew members of the vessel 'Shin Ji'

 

In May 2011, several crew
members of the Korean vessel Shin Ji
walked off their boat while it was docked in Auckland, objecting to constant
abuse, 17-hour shifts, insufficient wages, being fed rotten fish bait, locked food
stores, denial of medical treatment – and having to give the captain a daily massage.
The following month, 32 Indonesian crewmen on a third Korean fishing vessel, Oyang 75, also walked off their boat
while it was berthed in Lyttelton Harbour, complaining of verbal, psychological
and contract abuse, including underpayment and non-payment of wages, while some
crew also alleged sexual harassment, inhumane treatment and physical
punishments.

The murky waters of foreign
fishing in New Zealand’s economic zone were being stirred up, and the ripples
would travel far. In the months following the sinking of the Oyang 70, there was an unprecedented
response by a number of New Zealanders to the slave-like conditions on the
vessel. Outrage turned into action, and as formal investigations got underway, more
disturbing details emerged – this time about the dumping of fish, engine oil
and rubbish at sea.

Among those chasing a story
or drawn to the crew’s plight were Auckland journalist Michael Field, PhD
student Glenn Simmons, and Dr Christina Stringer, a senior lecturer at the
University of Auckland Business School. Daren Coulston, a fishery consultant, former
skipper and spokesman for the New Zealand Fishing: Keep it Kiwi lobby
group, also had a keen interest in the affair, working tirelessly for over a year on the investigations. Craig Tuck,
a Tauranga-based barrister with a background in human rights and the law
regarding transnational crime, has been acting pro bono on behalf of the Shin Ji crew members, and by the end of
2011 was helping establish an organisation specifically aimed at fighting
slavery at sea.

Coulston, Stringer and Simmons’
year-long research into the situation culminated in the report, Not in NZ Waters, Surely?: Human rights and labour abuses aboard
foreign fishing vessels.
What became clear was that in many cases the
mostly Indonesian crews of Korean-owned fishing vessels were subject to savage
work conditions and treatment at the hands of their Korean employers. After surveying
industry professionals and over 100 crew members, the report concluded that of
the approximately 2,000 foreign crew members working on 27 foreign charter
vessels inside New Zealand waters, many “live like rats”, in appalling
conditions and suffering disturbing levels of abuse. 

Examples of the appalling living conditions in FCVs

 

Interviews documented in the
report revealed physical and sexual abuse, substandard working conditions, harsh
treatment by Korean officers and incorrect wages. The report contains a wage comparison
between the average annual salary for a foreign crew working on a New Zealand-flagged
vessel (NZ$60,000-$80,000) and that for an FCV crew, which is typically between
NZ$6,700 and $11,600 (after permissible deductions).

What also came to light were
long-term breaches of New Zealand’s Minimum Wage Act, and in particular the
failure of New Zealand-based fishing companies, FCV operators and their
Indonesian crewing agents to act responsibly for the welfare of the crews.

The University of Auckland
report and associated media coverage ultimately led to a joint ministerial
investigation, due to be completed in February 2012, into the operations of FCVs
in New Zealand waters.

Galvanised by outrage at the
abuse, and determined not to tolerate this kind of behaviour, local church
members, Indonesian translators and other individuals from Christchurch and
Auckland supported crew members as they waited for unpaid wages and prepared to
return home to their families. All those involved in taking care of the remaining
crewmen did so voluntarily, and mostly at their own expense. Stringer described
the crew as “humble, appreciative, sincere men, who contributed daily in any way
they could”, and as being overwhelmed by the kindness, hospitality and
compassion shown to them by New Zealanders.

“All that these fishermen
wanted was humane treatment, and to receive the payment they were entitled to
legally,” she says. “Because this wasn’t realised, it has plunged their already
poor Indonesian families into deeper poverty.”

Members of Oyang 75 return to Indonesia

 

Six crew members of the Oyang 75 remained in Christchurch until
November 2011 to assist the Department of Labour and other government departments
with the enquiry. The remaining crew members returned home to Indonesia empty-handed,
where they’ve been blacklisted and are unable to find work because they spoke
up for their rights under New Zealand law.

In the past, we might have
considered human rights abuses and slavery as evils belonging to other parts of
the world – but this case, like none before, has literally sailed the problem
straight into our territory. New Zealanders are right to be incredulous that
such a thing has happened “in our waters”. The challenge is to continue to be
affronted by such abuses and to ensure that outrage turns into positive action.

Changes in the wind

New
Zealand’s Maritime Union has supported the media investigation into FCVs and
their crews, saying they’ve “lifted the lid” on what is going on in New
Zealand’s fishing industry. Maritime Union general secretary Joe Fleetwood says
the union “has been advocating for a complete clean-up of the joint venture
fishing industry for years to protect workers”.

New
Zealand’s joint venture fishing industry has over recent years been marked by a
number of sinkings, drownings, industrial accidents, reports of violence and
abuse, health and safety violations, ship jumpings, claims of appalling work
conditions, and failures to honour employment and wage agreements. What’s
needed, says the Maritime Union, is a comprehensive audit of the industry,
including vessel standards and wages. “The use of employment agents in the
countries of origin for foreign crews means the worst practices of Third World
economies have become established in the New Zealand economy,” says Fleetwood. “This
situation is what is known overseas as social dumping, or the exploitation of
cross-border labour in a globalised economy. Just because FCVs are operating
off New Zealand’s coast does not give operators a right to ignore New Zealand
standards of employment. The New Zealand government has taken an ineffective
approach, simply because there are big profits in it for the companies.” Fleetwood
says the crews are being blamed while corporate executives at the top of the
food chain are walking away with the profits from these unethical practices.

Where to from here

In November 2011, five
Korean officers, including the captain of Oyang
75
, were charged with breaches of the Fisheries Act. The officers had been investigated
by three government departments and faced 24 charges, including false reporting
of types of fish caught, dumping of fish, and preventing an inspection officer
from contacting ministry staff ashore. Unfortunately all five officers had
returned overseas before the trial began, and steps were being taken to find
them. The case will come before the New Zealand courts again in January 2012.

Also in November 2011, a group
of lawyers and advocates launched Slave Free Seas (www.slavefreeseas.org), a
charitable trust established in New Zealand as a direct response to foreign fishing
vessels flaunting employment and human rights laws in New Zealand waters. The trust
was founded by Craig Tuck, and will work in conjunction with Hong Kong-based
anti-trafficking group The Mekong Club with the aim of partnering with
government and private sectors to address the crime of slavery at sea. “We’ll
use our combined resources wherever a corrupt supply chain touches a waterway,”
says Tuck. “We’ll use the strategy of prevention, protection and prosecution,
with our main focus being prosecution. We are calling for support to compel government
to invoke the power of the law that exists, to protect against human rights
abuses in our seas. We are lawyers and businesspeople who mean business.”

As the Slave Free Seas trust
and website were being launched, Tuck flew to Christchurch to represent the
Indonesian crew of two Korean-flagged vessels (Korean Dae Hyun Agriculture and
Fisheries Company boats), the Melilla 201
and 203, on charter to United
Fisheries of Socton, which is owned by prominent Christchurch businesspeople
The crew of Melilla 203 were claiming
extensive abuse, including sexual abuse, and non-payment of approximately $1 million
in wages.

Ugly problems; human solutions

Daren Coulston, Jude mannion and Craig Tuck fight for better conditions and to abolish human trafficking

 

Although slavery is banned
in every country in the world, the number of slaves appears to be higher than at
any other time in human history: recent global statistics put the total at approximately
26 million, including more than 9 million living in slavery in Asia alone. “Most
people think slavery was abolished in the 1800s, but it still exists and it’s a
much bigger business today,” says New Zealander Jude Mannion, an
anti-trafficking campaigner and chief executive of the innovative Robin Hood
Foundation. (Established in 2002 as a corporate charity matchmaker, the Robin
Hood Foundation has brought companies with a social conscience together with more
than a thousand not-for-profit organisations, facilitating the donation of millions
of dollars along the way.)

“There are global hotspots
associated with different forms of trafficking, slavery and exploitation,” says
Matthew Friedman, regional project manager for the United Nations Inter-Agency
Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Bangkok. “Eastern European hotspots
focus on sex trafficking, as does South Asia, while Southeast Asia [the Mekong
region] involves mainly varying forms of labour exploitation, especially in the
fishing industry,” he says. “Africa and Latin America are addressing human
trafficking, but they also have many other issues.”

There’s no guarantee of immunity
from human trafficking in any nation. “There are issues in every country,
including New Zealand, although because New Zealand is fairly isolated and
insulated, it would most probably be behind closed doors,” says Friedman. “However,
the developing FCV investigation in New Zealand has shown that your country is
just as vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation as others.”

Slavery and trafficking are big
business; approximately US$32 billion in profit is generated globally by
slavery every year, while funding from donors to fight slavery is only about US$350
million per year. It’s a question of priorities; America spends US$6 billion on
potato chips each year, so the money spent in 21 days of potato chip eating would
cover the current annual cost of fighting slavery.

New Zealand has a good
reputation in this arena, and international experts such as Friedman speak
highly of our government’s participation in funding counter-trafficking
activities. “Throughout Southeast Asia, the New Zealand government plays an
important leadership role in helping to address the human trafficking problem
by supporting the United Nations Interagency Project on Human Trafficking,” he
says.

 In an example of what can be
achieved by motivated individuals, Mannion relocated to Hong Kong in 2010 to
help establish the not-for-profit anti-slavery organisation The Mekong Club, of
which Friedman is also a founding member. Mannion comes from a 20-year career
as a leading corporate brand developer, and her determination to alleviate
suffering through social activism has inspired dozens of Hong Kong
professionals, including lawyers, bankers, and IT experts, to support the
endeavour. The result: the first business-funded group to fight human
trafficking across Asia.

Using private sector skills
and expertise, The Mekong Club is developing a campaign to encourage major
retailers to buy slave-free products. This involves working with media to
systematically expose the human cost of slavery, and exploring how innovative
technologies such as smartphone apps can be used as anti-trafficking tools. The
Mekong Club also draws on its vast legal talent to help authorities seize
trafficker assets, and uses its influence to encourage selected anti-trafficking
raids and rescues.

To engage the private sector
and community, The Mekong Club is also developing a ‘slavery-free’ logo, and
will promote its campaign through activities such as a Hong Kong film festival
and a human trafficking gala dinner. “Human trafficking and slavery are run by organised
crime, and generally the response to them isn’t very organised at all,” says Mannion.
“We need to kneecap the economic viability of slavery so it goes out of
business. The Mekong Club’s mandate is to fight the business of slavery by
raising investment to fund specific projects that disrupt slavery.”

Stop Demand Foundation New
Zealand is another voice calling for local and global action on sexual
violence, exploitation, denigration and sex trafficking. Its founder, Kiwi barrister
Denise Ritchie, is unapologetically hard-hitting: “The global sex trade, like
any trade, operates on demand and supply dynamics. Sex traffickers are merely
intermediaries moving the product by demand – in this case the bodies of women
and children, mostly girls. Demand is driven by men, literally millions of men,
who view and treat women as goods, chattels, toys or objects for sexual use and
titillation.”

Ritchie has worked in the
field since 1993 and remains optimistic, despite the huge challenges. She
points to Sweden, Norway and Iceland as countries that have recognised that to
effectively tackle sex trafficking you must target those fuelling demand.
“These countries are using innovative, normative laws that criminalise buyers,
while decriminalising sellers and providing them employment alternatives. This
happens together with public education and denouncing the sex trade as
oppressive and against the tenets of gender equality,” she says. “This has
gained growing public support in those countries – including from men. It
appears to be having an impact on sex trafficking, with police intelligence
sources identifying that traffickers have little vested interest in such
countries. If there is no demand, there will be no supply.” Ritchie believes
these models are the way of the future, but will require forward thinking from
politicians, lawmakers and men in particular, if we’re to bring about change.

“Laws alone don’t change people’s
behaviour,” agrees Alan Bell, national director of the New Zealand-based ECPAT
(Ending Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Child Trafficking for Sexual
Purposes). With years of experience in the field, Bell believes that it’s “people
creating public awareness and education to prevent the sexual abuse of children
and all exploitative situations, in step with our law enforcement system, that
will bring about change in the long term”.

What can I do?

There are things we can do
to help bring slavery to an end in our lifetime –such as helping to raise
public awareness and put pressure on governments. We can reduce demand by
purchasing only goods we know to be slave-free. It’s about using whatever
opportunities we have – big or small. Jude Mannion has three suggestions:

  • Take a minute and think about it from a business viewpoint. What knowledge capability
    or networks do you have to contribute to this cause? The scope is huge: from
    IT, logistics, travel, manufacturing, legal and finance to retail and communication
    sectors. There is a heroic and innovative role we can play to end human
    slavery. The global PR giant Edelman has contributed some of its best people to
    help in telling this story.
  • Respond personally. If you’re not in business, ask the manager of your local supermarket
    if the Thai prawns you are buying can be traced as slave-free. Check out your
    other supply chains and ask the questions. Whether we like it or not, we’re all
    part of the chain.
  • Pitch together with a group of friends and donate US$500 to bust one of the worst
    brothels in Asia, or donate US$500 to put the iphone app that the Mekong Club
    is developing into the hands of law enforcement agencies, which will use it to
    communicate with victims in their own languages, and intervene immediately to
    free them.

For more, go to Slave Free
Seas (www.slavefreeseas.org), or
check out the following sites:

www.safe.org.nz

www.stopdemand.org

www.ecpat.org.nz

www.slavefreeseas.org

www.motherapp.com

www.fish.govt.nz

www.themekongclub.com

www.no-trafficking.org

 

Libby Moon is an
Auckland-based freelance writer. This is her first feature for Good.   

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