Background

Based on ILO’s latest Global Estimate of Forced Labour , 25 million women, men and children are trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and which they cannot leave. Estimates indicate that the fishing sector, as well as onshore seafood processing, is one of the top sectors where the risk of forced labour is especially high. Given the importance of this sector nationally, if Indonesia wants to achieve the SDG Target 8.7, the fisheries sector will continue to need additional attention. Indeed, lack of labour inspection regime, overlapping legislation and authorities between key government agencies, complexity of transnational jurisdictions between flag States, port States, coastal States, and source States are some the key challenges to overcome to prevent and address forced labour in the fishing sector. As a result of those gaps, Indonesian (migrant) fishers often suffer many forms of rights violations such as excessive working hours, poor accommodation, inadequate food and water, high risks of injuries and illness due to poor safety.

In Indonesian context, there are growing concerns about better protecting migrant fishers through legal frameworks that specifically address migrant fishers. The Regulation Plan on the Placement and Protection of Sailors, Seafarers, and Migrant Fishers, as mandated by Law No. 18 of 2017 on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, is now at the final stage of approval by the President of Indonesia.

The members of the national project advisory committees of ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights SEA project, which are comprised of the Coordinating Ministry, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Ministry of Transportation, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have also initiated the definition of a common strategy to harmonize relevant laws and regulations in the Indonesian fishing sector. In parallel to the initiative, the Ministries of Marine Affairs and Fisheries have enacted Ministerial Regulation No. 33 of 2021 on the Fishing Logbook, monitoring on board fishing vessels and fish transport vessels, inspection, testing and marking of fishing vessels, as well as governance on the manning of fishing vessels. In parallel, ILO, through the Accelerator Lab 8.7 programme, continues to support Indonesia's government in improving the labour inspection mechanism in the fisheries sector.

Recently, AL 8.7 has conducted a series of consultation meeting sessions with relevant ministries to revisit the development of labour inspection mechanisms in the fishing sector. ILO has developed a training package on inspection of labour conditions on board fishing vessels which is designed for wide use by ILO member state inspectorates to build inspection and enforcement regimes for work in fishing. The material is designed for officials from fisheries and maritime authorities who may have roles in labour inspection and enforcement, not just for labour inspectors.

In 2018 to 2019, the ILO’s Safe to Shore project, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Labour Inspection Directorate and the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs (MOMFA), introduced and supported the implementation of Strategic Compliance Planning (SCP) for the fishing sector in Indonesia. The cooperation yielded a simplified labour inspection model to be applied to the fishing vessels based on the existing legal framework for inspection and workflow. Several training sessions with on-site simulation of joint inspections were conducted in several fishing ports, such as Jakarta, Bitung in North Sulawesi, and Benoa in Bali. The simulation of joint inspections was aimed at encouraging labour and fishing inspectors to apply some of the knowledge gained during the workshop and to better understand the challenges and effective approaches when conducting on-board vessel inspections.

Based on the lessons learned from previous ILO projects, ILO Accelerator Lab 8.7 is therefore willing to re-energize the development of labour inspection mechanisms in the fishing sector, which will bring together the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Ministry of Transportation, BP2MI, and provincial governments.
Through this initiative, the ILO Accelerator Lab 8.7 programme (AL) aims to provide as series of knowledge sharing and technical meeting sessions to improve existing labour inspection model including on-site training simulation to conduct on board labour inspection in fishing vessels. This is expected to accelerate the replication of promising practices and identify new solutions to end forced labour and child labour particularly in fisheries sector.

The objectives of these activities are aimed at:

1. Providing a knowledge sharing and exchange of information avenue for relevant ministries to clarify roles and authorities in inspecting labour conditions in the fishing sector.
2. Refining the existing guidelines for conducting boarding inspections that focus on the checklist, code of conduct, methodology, tools, and criteria of participants, and reporting inspection results.
3. Improving the capacity of relevant officials responsible for fisheries surveillance and labour conditions to plan, organize, coordinate, conduct, and report boarding inspections.