Abstract
During the 13th Meeting of the 1st Session of the National Human
Rights Commission, the following resolution was passed: “Collate all of
the Control Yuan’s foreign fishermen investigations and produce a national
special report on the human rights of migrant fishers.”
In this report, six Control Yuan investigations on foreign fishermen
provided the starting point for a systematic review of each case. The
report began by looking at the unusual nature of work at sea and then
went on to analyze the issues with having a dual-track regulatory system
for domestically-hired and overseas-hired fishermen; the origins of Flag of
Convenience (FOC) vessels and their problems; forced labor and corporate
responsibility in transnational supply chains; applicable international
covenants and human rights guidelines; as well as the difficulties caused by
the unique international status of Taiwan.
The pertinent problems were collated and narrowed down to eight
main aspects. In response to the push from non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) to “end forced labor in the distant water fishery,” a formal request
was sent out to all the applicable agencies for information on their current
implementation and feasibility assessments. A variety of methods, including
the hosting of professional forums, on-site inspections at Cijin and Cianjhen
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