Topic: Taiwan TIP Report 2021 - U.S. State Department Misses Opportunity to Push Taiwan Government to Take Greater Action to Combat Human Trafficking in the Fishing Sector

Organizers: Seafood Working Group (SWG), Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), Greenpeace, Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC), Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR), Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union (YMFU), Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Immigrants Office (VMWIO), Serve the People Association, Taoyuan (SPA), Stella Maris, Rerum Novarum Center, and The Garden of Hope Foundation

Time: Thursday, July 8, 2021 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) / 9:30pm Taiwan Time

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85201269052?pwd=Z2s0S205bXJqbFdaVkYvVC9sSkVLQT09 

Meeting ID: 852 0126 9052 // Passcode: 143598

Context:

The U.S. State Department released its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report last Thursday, maintaining Taiwan at Tier 1 for the twelfth consecutive year despite ongoing concerns around human trafficking in the fishing industry. Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry has been implicated in numerous investigations and reports for labor trafficking and the government has failed to sufficiently address this problem.  Indeed, the 2021 TIP Report includes detailed evidence and examples of the Taiwan government’s shortcomings in addressing forced labor and human trafficking in the fishing sector. Maintaining Taiwan at Tier 1 represents a significant missed opportunity as this ranking has been widely regarded by Taiwanese NGOs as a barrier to incentivize the government to strengthen its anti-trafficking efforts in the fishing sector. 

Program 

• Introduction from Kimberly Rogovin, Senior Seafood Campaign Coordinator,  GLJ-ILRF & Mina Chiang, SWG Seafood Campaign Consultant, GLJ-ILRF  
• Comments from Lennon Wong, Director of Department of Policies on Migrant Workers, Serve the People Association, Taoyuan (SPA) 
• Comments from Allison Lee, Secretary-general of Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union (YMFU)
• Comments from Yuton Lee, Campaigner, Greenpeace East Asia (Taipei)
• Q&A with the media 

Featured Speakers:

• Lennon Wong, Director of Department of Policies on Migrant Workers, Serve the People Association, Taoyuan (SPA). SPA is a local non-profit organization that aims to help grassroots workers and improve their living conditions. It concentrates on the disadvantaged groups, protects their human rights, as well as promoting the quality of the social welfare services in Taiwan.
• Allison Lee, Secretary-general of Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union (YMFU). Established in 2013, YMFU is the first labor union formed by migrant workers in Taiwan. It provides individual assistance to workers, investigates labor issues, negotiates with employers, files complaints, and coordinates legal assistance.
• Yuton Lee, Campaigner, Greenpeace East Asia (Taipei).  Greenpeace East Asia focuses on forced labor and illegal fishing in Taiwan’s Distant Water Fisheries. Greenpeace has been advocating a traceable seafood supply chain, as well as safe and just working conditions of the workers that comply with international standards on human and labor rights. Yuton Lee is a campaigner for Greenpeace’s East Asian Ocean Project. She focuses on combating the drivers of marine ecosystem change and her current project targets illegal fishing and forced labor in Taiwan’s Distant Water Fisheries. She is based in Taipei.

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Photo Credit: Rerum Novarum