Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia Programme advances labour rights for migrant fishers and seafood processing workers

Bangkok (ILO News) — As the Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia programme concludes its second phase, substantial progress has been made towards decent work for migrants within the region’s blue economy. Funded by the European Union (EU), the programme is a 4-year regional initiative implemented by the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Development Programme.

Through collaborative efforts with governments, the private sector, trade unions and civil society, the initiative has strengthened labour standards, supported legislative reforms, enhanced access to justice and support services for migrant workers and promoted responsible business practices. By fostering knowledge creation, capacity building and public awareness, the programme has laid a strong foundation for sustainable improvements in labour migration governance and protection of workers’ rights in the fishing and seafood processing sectors.

“The European Union is proud to have established a strong legacy under the Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia programme, supporting the realization of our shared values of human rights and social justice in the region,” said H.E. David Daly, Ambassador of the European Union to Thailand. “We are very pleased to see such tangible progress has been achieved in protecting the labour rights of migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing industries during the last four years.”

Over its four years of implementation, the Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia programme has contributed to a wide range of improvements.

Labour standards in the fishing and seafood processing sectors have been strengthened through the adoption of 31 policy and legal instruments. The key regional policy achievements of the programme were supporting the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers and the ASEAN Guidelines on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers. The two agreements are expected to become important new regional normative instruments for protection of the labour rights of migrant fishers in South-East Asia.

At the national level, key legislative milestones included the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers, Indonesia’s Government Regulation No. 22 of 2022 on the placement and protection of migrant crews and the adoption of five sub-laws to support the implementation of the Law on Contract-Based Vietnamese Workers Overseas in Viet Nam. These legal advancements represent tangible progress towards aligning national legal frameworks with international labour standards in the region.

Capacity building training on enforcement of labour laws, application of responsible business practices and other critical needs were provided to 5,682 stakeholder representatives. Some of the key training initiatives addressed dispute resolution for migrant worker grievances in Cambodia, joint inspections of fishing vessels in Indonesia, and occupational safety and health on fishing vessels in Thailand.

Engaging the private sector to ensure responsible business practices has been integral to the programme’s approach in Thailand and Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Through the Seafood Good Labour Practices programme, the Thai Tuna Industry Association and the Thai Frozen Foods Association have conducted more than 80 factory visits per year, helping to improve working conditions for the over 77,000 Thai and migrant workers employed by their member companies.

In addition, the Lao Employment Business Association was established as the first-ever industry association representing the 48 private employment agencies licensed to operate in the country. The new association aims to raise the business standards of its membership to ensure fair recruitment practices, particularly for migrant workers.

Major gaps in access to information and services for migrant workers have been filled through partnerships with governments, trade unions and civil society organizations. The programme has supported a network of 23 Migrant Worker Resource Centres (MRCs) to deliver targeted and sector-specific assistance for migrant fishing and seafood processing workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. To date, these organizations have been able to deliver individualized support services to 236,082 migrant workers and their family members, including safe migration counselling, pre-departure training, legal assistance services, labour organizing and return and reintegration services. A critical outcome of the legal assistance services has been greater access to remedies for labour rights abuses, including nearly US$1.2 million in money awarded to complainants.

To support long-term improvements in stakeholder capabilities, the programme institutionalized 22 operational tools to support anti-trafficking and protection of labour rights efforts. The tools developed included guidelines for the national referral mechanism on human trafficking in Thailand, pre-departure training for work in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the migrant fishers information package in the Philippines.

In response to human trafficking cases, the programme helped to facilitate 757 national and transnational referrals for survivors from South-East Asia who had been trafficked to Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Fiji, Malta, Somalia and Madagascar. Through a coordinated effort with government authorities, civil society organizations and trade unions, these individuals were provided with protection services and eventually repatriated to their countries of origin. The programme also delivered direct support to 439 trafficking survivors from Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic to assist them with successfully reintegrating back into their communities.

Public information campaigns have been a cornerstone of the programme’s impact, reaching over three million people through the use of diverse media platforms, including social media, video, radio, photography and printed materials. BBC Media Action’s Yay Kyi Yar Facebook campaign in Myanmar delivered safe migration and labour rights information in a highly-relatable and engaging format to more than 1.5 million followers across 10 countries.

To empower migrant workers and contribute to a sea-change in public attitudes, SEA-Junction produced and launch a photo exhibition entitled “Not just Labor: Migrant Photo Voices from Thailand’s Fisheries”. The exhibition featured photo stories taken by Cambodian and Myanmar migrant workers that speak to the need to move towards a greater recognition of the full depth of humanity of migrant workers rather than simply viewing them instrumentally as filling labour needs.

To drive evidence-based policymaking on labour migration governance, the programme published 23 new knowledge products. Seminal reports such as Rough seas: The impact of COVID-19 on fishing workers in Southeast Asia, Riding out the storm: Organizational resilience of trade unions and civil society organizations following the military takeover in Myanmar and Cambodia’s labour migration governance framework: A comparative analysis with international labour standards have delivered actionable policy recommendations and received extensive media coverage. The insights provided by these studies have played a key role in expanding the knowledge base on labour and social protection for migrant workers.

Although the Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia programme has been a highly successful initiative during the last four years, there is still much more work to be done: “While the progress made so far is very encouraging, we know that this journey must continue. The ILO is committed to working closely together with governments, social partners, civil society and other key stakeholders to ensure that all migrant workers in South East Asia’s fishing and seafood sectors are employed under conditions of decent work,” said Panudda Boonpala, Deputy Regional Director, International Labour Organization.