Fisheries Agency,Ministry of Agriculture

　　To allow the United States to gain more practical understandings regarding Taiwan's efforts to enhance the rights of migrant fishers onboard distant-water fishing vessels. Taiwan Fisheries Agency (TFA) invited the U.S delegation led by Thea Lee, Deputy Undersecretary for Department of Labor of the U.S to Taiwan for workshops and meetings from February 26^th to March 1^st, 2024. During the visit, Deputy Undersecretary Lee and her colleagues observed the labor inspections conducted by TFA on distant-water fishing vessels, and communicated with local fisheries associations, migrant fisher's organizations, civil groups, and relevant ministries. Deputy Undersecretary Lee recognized Taiwan's trans-ministry efforts in improving human rights of migrant fishers, and indicated that both sides should continue to bilaterally cooperate in order to address the issues and challenges of labor rights in the future.

　　TFA indicated that Taiwan has been continuously working on enhancing the rights of migrant fishers, including the implementation of "Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights" approved by the Executive Yuan on May 20^th, 2022, which promotes cross-ministerial collaboration to implement relevant measures. TFA has also hired more fisheries labor inspectors to increase the frequency of inspections. This could systematically prevent and resolve the issues concerning forced labor in distant-water fisheries. Through the implementation of law and enforcement of the action plan, the protection to the rights of migrant fishers employed overseas have been and will continually to be enhanced.

　　With TFA’s arrangement, Deputy Undersecretary Lee and her colleagues visited Kaohsiung Qianzhen Fishing Port on the 28^th to observe the labor inspection conducted onboard a tuna longline fishing vessel. This demonstrates Taiwan's commitment to protecting fishers' rights, which was not only implemented by laws but also by relevant practices. Such labor inspection reminds and assists operators to understand the regulations, in addition to the sectors they did not notice in the past. This ensures fishers of all nationalities enjoy a good, safe, and dignified working environment.

　　Through the communicates with fisheries associations, migrant fisher's organizations, civil society, and relevant ministries. Deputy Undersecretary Lee appreciated TFA's efforts to provide fruitful information from different perspectives in such schedule. In addition, Deputy Undersecretary Lee indicated that she understand Taiwan's efforts and achievements in enhancing fisher's human rights, but also stated that there are still some structural issues, such as the two-tier system for the employment of migrant fishers, the rights of migrant fishers to form unions and ability to conduct collective bargaining, and recruitment service fees. Deputy Undersecretary Lee hopes that both sides should continuously cooperate and jointly combat forced labor activities in order to address the challenges concerning protection to the rights of migrant fishers.

　　Finally, TFA indicated that the visit was an important milestone in the cooperation between Taiwan and the United States on labor rights. Both sides share the same value in human rights and democracy. Taiwan and the United States will continue to learn from each other, and share their experiences and practices. In the future, both sides will continue to cooperate on addressing labor issues in fisheries, to support Taiwan's protection of the rights of migrant fishers can be in line with international standards.

　　　　Contact Person: Xue Poyuan

　　　　Email: poyuan0720@ms1.fa.gov.tw

Participants in the Taiwan-U.S. Fishery Human Rights Bilateral Meeting

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