A/HRC/40/56
I. Introduction
1.
Fishery workers are instrumental to the progressive realization of the right to food
and nutrition, and are increasingly important in the fight against global hunger, as
articulated in Goal 2 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The fisheries sector
is responsible for supporting the livelihoods of approximately 880 million people, many of
whom are among the world’s poorest.1 Yet, paradoxically, those who rely on fisheries for
work and serve as the driving force for the realization of the right to food of others
encounter formidable barriers to realizing this right for themselves.
2.
Fishery workers face tremendous human rights violations and labour abuses in an
inherently dangerous industry. Failure of States to implement adequate protections for
workers perpetuates continued exploitation and impunity for those responsible. Over the
past five years, investigations by news organizations and advocacy groups have brought to
light the horrific abuses that fishery workers suffer throughout the supply chain.2 Reported
incidents have revealed human trafficking; forced, slave and child labour; sexual
exploitation and violence; low or unpaid wages; and a lack of access to clean water,
adequate food and basic services in workplaces. Despite those reports, rising demands for
cheap seafood, loopholes in existing legal frameworks and the weak implementation and
enforcement of fishing activities in domestic and international waters continue to result in
the most serious violations of workers’ rights.
3.
While the two previous Special Rapporteurs on the right to food presented their
respective thematic reports on fisheries (A/59/385 and A/67/268), the present report will
emphasize the rights of fishery workers and the exploitation they face in a changing global
food system. For the purposes of the report, “fishery workers” will include “any person
working in marine or inland fisheries, both capture and aquaculture, regardless of their
contract type or payment arrangement”.3 This definition is intended to include fishers, fish
farmers and those engaged in post-harvest processing activities. It also includes subsistence
fishers and fish farmers who catch or raise fish primarily for their own consumption but sell
their residual catch or fish product.4
4.
The present report will describe recent trends in global fisheries and fish
consumption, acknowledging the fishery workers who are critical to meeting the rising
global demand for fish, but who suffer persistent human and labour rights violations. These
violations undermine the ability of workers to secure accessible, available and adequate
food for themselves and for their families. Particular attention is afforded to women,
children, migrant populations and indigenous and coastal communities, who face a
heightened risk of exploitation, despite relevant legal protections. Finally, the report will
consider the role of the State in protecting, promoting and fulfilling the right to food of
fishery workers consistent with international law and the potential influence of the private
sector and other actors in supporting the rights of fishery workers in an ever-expanding
global food system.
1
2
3
4
2
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Scoping study on decent work and
employment in fisheries and aquaculture: Issues and actions for discussions and programming (Rome,
2016), p. 22.
See, for example, Kate Hodal and Chris Kelly, “Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food
for prawns”, The Guardian, 10 June 2014; Robin McDowell, Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza,
“AP investigation: slaves may have caught the fish you bought”, Associated Press, 25 March 2015;
Ian Urbina, “‘Sea slaves’: the human misery that feeds pets and livestock”, New York Times, 27 July
2015; Human Rights Watch, “Hidden chains: rights abuses and forced labour in Thailand’s fishing
industry”, 23 January 2018.
Tomi Petr, ed., Inland fishery enhancements. Papers presented at the FAO/DFID Expert Consultation
on Inland Fishery Enhancements. Dhaka, Bangladesh, 7–11 April 1997, FAO Fisheries Technical
Paper, No. 374 (Rome, FAO, 1998).
The present report recognizes that the human rights situation of fishery workers varies tremendously
depending on the type, size and location of the subject fishery, as well as the particular activity in
which the worker is engaged.