Exceptional Zone at Sea and Dysfunctionality of law?

by | May 11, 2021 | EVENTS, News and Event

Exceptional Zone at Sea and Dysfunctionality of law?

Future policies on migrant fishers and marine life

(中文文字附後)
Organized by

International Institute for Cultural Studies (ICCS) & School of Law

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU)

 Co-organized by

Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes – Global Humanities Institute (CHCI-GHI) “Migration, Logistics and Unequal Citizens in Contemporary Global Context”

Date & Time：May 26, 1:00~6:00 pm (TAIPEI TIME)

Due to the recent Covid-19 situation in Taiwan, this event will be fully held online (Webinar) using ZOOM. We will send the link one day prior to the event.

有鑑於台灣新冠肺炎疫情升溫和配合政府相關政策，本論壇將改為全線上Zoom論壇模式。我們將在活動前一日將Zoom鏈接傳送給已報名人士。

Online Participants Via Zoom
http://bit.ly/3aAEuwP or scan the QR Code on the side）

Taiwan possesses one of the most impressive offshore fishing vessel fleets in the world. The country’s fishing industry also has a staggeringly large number of marine catches and employs a diverse group of international foreign fishermen. However, the industry has long been accused of ongoing forced labour, exploitation and illegal catching which prompted the European Union, the U.S. government, and international human rights and environmental organizations to closely monitor the situation for years. Apart from the amended three Fisheries-related acts and increased penalties against illegal activities conducted by the flag of convenience (FOC) ships, we are left to wonder what more needs to be done to solve the ongoing problems?

With such concerns, this forum brings the following panels to explore the issue from different angles —（1）Investigation Report by The Reporter: Falsification, Exploitation and Insufficient Governance;（2）We are on the front line of the fishing port: sharing experiences of foreign fishermen；（3）From the Perspective of Laws: Future Policies on Migrant Fishers and Marine Live of Taiwan Fishing Industries.

This forum aims to inquire about the challenges in protecting foreign fishermen’s rights within the offshore fishing industry. As such, we invite The Reporter team who produced investigation reporting on the offshore fishing ground across 5 years of following and observation, the representative from The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Seamen’s / Fishermen’s Service Center (PCTSFSC) and Stella Maris Kaohsiung, and international laws scholar Prof. Lee Ming-Bin and labour laws scholar Assoc. Prof. Lin Liang-Jung, to deliberate the following questions:

  1. Why human trafficking, forced labour, maltreatment and fishermen deaths has been constant aboard offshore fishing vessels?
  2. Does exceptionality of the offshore fishing ground or dysfunctionality of law contribute to the illegal activities on the offshore fishing ground?
  3. Who should shoulder the responsibility of protecting foreign fishermen on the offshore fishing vessels and restricting IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) activities? How national and international laws and regulations can work within this context?
  4. What legal loopholes enable the constant abuse of foreign fishermen who work at the flag of convenience (FOC) ship?
  5. Does the exceptionality of law at the sea contribute to the dysfunctionality of offshore fishermen protection law?
  6. How to co-reflect the flaws within Taiwan’s labour laws and marine conservation laws.

海上例外法域與失靈的法律？漁工勞權政策與海洋生命保育之反思

主辦單位

國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心與科技法律學院 

協辦單位

全球人文研究中心及機構聯盟– 2021年全球人文研究機構（CHCI-GHI）“當前全球脈絡下的移動、物流部署與不平等公民”

日期與時間：5 月 26 日，下午13：00 至傍晚 18：00（台北時間）

有鑑於台灣新冠肺炎疫情升溫和配合政府相關政策，本論壇將改為全線上Zoom論壇模式。我們將在活動前一日將Zoom鏈接傳送給已報名人士。

http://bit.ly/3aAEuwP (請掃旁邊的 QR 碼)

國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心與科技法律學院將在2021年5月26日，共同舉辦「海上例外法域與失靈的法律？漁工勞權政策與海洋生命保育之反思」論壇。

擁有世界屬一屬二遠洋漁船的台灣，有著人數和國籍多元的外籍漁工、有著驚人捕撈量，但為何「血汗海鮮」、「血汗勞動」之名無法去除？為何台灣陸續被歐盟、美國政府、國際人權與環境組織緊盯？ 遠洋三法的修訂、權宜船違法的罰責提高，究竟（未）解決哪些問題？

本工作坊規劃三個場次：（1）《報導者》的調查報告：造假、剝削、未境的治理；（2）非政府組織服務經驗分享：關懷漁工的前線；（3）法律界的分析：台灣遠洋漁業外籍漁工和海洋生命保育政策的未來。

我們舉辦這場工作坊，目的在於探討維護遠洋漁業外籍漁工權益時所面對到的挑戰。我們邀請針對海上魚場進行五年追蹤觀察，完成調查報告三部曲的《報導者》團隊，台灣基督長老教會海員漁民服務中心及財團法人天主教社會慈善福利基金會附設海星海員中心代表，以及國際法學者李孟玢副教授與勞動法者學林良榮副教授，一起探討以下重要議題：

  • 為何在遠洋漁船上，頻繁出現人口販賣、強迫勞動、暴力虐待甚至漁工喪命的事故？
  • 海上魚場所發生的各種違法行為，是因為海洋是法律的例外之域，或是法律完全失靈？
  • 誰應該肩負起保護遠洋勞動外籍漁工以及限制遠洋漁業違規非法漁撈的責任?國家和國際法規如何可以發揮作用？
  • 那些在「權宜船」工作的漁工，是在什麼樣的法律漏洞之下持續存在，又如何遭受重重剝削呢？
  • 遠洋漁工是否身處海上例外法域、讓保障勞權的法律失靈？
  • 如何共同反思台灣勞權政策與海洋生命保育問題？

《報導者》的調查報告：造假、剝削、未境的治理

主持人：劉紀蕙教授（文化研究國際中心，國立陽明交通大學）

1:00~2:00 PM

(three Speakers @20 minutes each)

 造假、剝削、未境的治理–五年三部曲，我們發現了什麼

講者:《報導者》
總編輯李雪莉
數據記者柯皓翔
記者楊智強
2:00~2.30 PM 問答環節）
2.30~2.45PM /休息時間

非政府組織服務經驗分享：關懷漁工的前線

主持人：貝納森（國立陽明交通大學社會與文化研究所博士生）

2.45~3.10PM

 我們在漁港前線 ─ 外籍漁工服務經驗分享

講者：陳武璋牧師（台灣基督長老教會海員漁民服務中心主任）
3.10~3.35PM 關心外籍漁工的呼籲

講者：楊謙神父（財團法人天主教社會慈善福利基金會附設海星海員中心主任）
3.35~3.45PM 休息時間
法律界的分析：台灣遠洋漁業外籍漁工和海洋生命保育政策的未來

主持人：邱羽凡副教授（科技法律研究所，國立陽明交通大學）
3.45~4.10PM 國立中正大學財經法律學系副教授李孟玢
標題：國際人權法的架構下檢視ILO188號漁業工作公約
4.10~4.35PM  國立政治大學法學院副教授林良榮
標題：國際漁業市場中「漁獲」與「勞動力」的競爭—-水產利益、漁工保護、漁民生存與國際壓力的大亂鬥
4.35~4.55PM 休息時間
4.55~5.55PM 綜合討論與問答環節

主持人：浦南（國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心博士後研究員）
5.55PM 晚餐

ABSTRACT AND SPEAKERS

Panel 1.  Investigation Report by The Reporter: Falsification, Exploitation and Insufficient Governance
《報導者》的調查報告：造假、剝削、未境的治理

Chair: Prof. Joyce C.H. Liu (ICCS, NYCU)
主持人：劉紀蕙教授（文化研究國際中心，國立陽明交通大學）

Title: Falsification, Exploitation and Insufficient Governance-What we have discovered after five years of investigation reports trilogy.

造假、剝削、未境的治理–五年三部曲，我們發現了什麼

Speakers: (3 people from The Reporter)
《報導者》總編輯李雪莉、記者楊智強、資料記者柯皓翔
Sherry Lee(Editor in Chief) 總編輯李雪莉，Journalist (Will Yang) 記者楊智強，Haohsiang ko(Data Journalist) 數據記者柯皓翔

Outline:

Ever since the Reporter embarked on the investigation and tracking of the offshore fishing industry, and subsequently published “The Fishing Ground of Blood and Tear” investigative reports trilogy, our team still has not forgotten our attention to Taiwan one-of-the kind offshore fishing industry, its diverse number of foreign fishermen and extraordinary catches. However, it has rarely been known what exactly happens on fishing vessels and the reason for constant scrutiny by the European Union, US government and international human rights and environmental organizations. In 2016, our first part of the report “Counterfeiting, Exploitation, Fishing Ground of Blood and Tears” aimed to systematically expose the foundation of Taiwan’s prided offshore fishing industry is made possible by the exploitation of labour and resources. In 2018, we launched the second part of the report, titled “Human Trafficking at Sea” to further expose the fishermen recruitment agencies, and reveals how Taiwan has been recruiting fishermen from poor countries, the process of shaping the “stock labour” perception and its impact on recruitment. In September 2020, we launched the final part of the report, titled: “Insufficient of offshore Governance”. However, after five years of three-part reports, the amendment of three offshore fishing-related laws and massive penalties to the offenders, has the falsification and exploitation in the industry subsided? We combed through the four-years record of the Fisheries Department and 520 penalties, trying to see the changes that the fishery industry is undergoing. The Reporter team will briefly share the experience of producing the trilogy in the past five years, the breakthrough and the history of each of the trilogy. This sharing will mostly focus on the second and the third reports, especially on the self-contained labour intermediary, fisher vessels owner‘s thought and the complicated number of government fines, laws or regulations.

5年前《報導者》開啟遠洋的調查追蹤後，完成《血淚漁場》的調查報導，這幾年，我們始終沒忘卻關注擁有世界屬一屬二遠洋漁船的台灣，有著人數和國籍多元的外籍漁工、有著驚人捕撈量，但究竟在神祕的遠洋漁船上頭發生什麼事？為何台灣陸續被歐盟、美國政府、國際人權與環境組織緊盯？ 2016年的一部曲「造假・剝削・血淚漁場」是首次系統地揭露台灣遠洋漁業傲人實績的背後，源自於對勞工與資源的剝削。2018我們推出二部曲「海上人口販運」，進一步突破人力仲介的環節，把台灣人如何向貧窮國家聘僱漁工，將漁工視為「庫存品」的過程和影響，一一揭露。2020年9月我們展開三部曲「未竟的遠洋治理」。經歷五年，遠洋三法的修訂，以及大量裁罰，產業裡的造假和剝削緩解了嗎？我們爬梳漁業署4年、520筆裁罰紀錄，試著看見裹著重重面紗的漁業界，正經歷的變化。《報導者》團隊將簡要分享五年內製作三部曲的心得，每一部曲的突破與歷程，此次分享著墨在二部曲與三部曲，特別是一般人較難接觸，這產業裡自成一格的遠洋仲介運作、漁老闆的思惟、政府龐雜的查罰數字與法條的背後的分享。

Panel 2.  NGOs’ On-Site Experiences: the Frontline Care for Fishers
非政府組織服務經驗分享：關懷漁工的前線

Chair: Jonathan Parhusip (PhD Student, SRCS, NYCU)
主持人：貝納森（國立陽明交通大學社會與文化研究所博士生）

Title: We are on the front line of the fishing port-sharing experience of foreign fishermen

Speakers: 主任  陳武璋牧師

Rev. Joshua Chen (Director of PCTSFSC, The Presbyterian Church In Taiwan ─ Seamen and Fishermen’s Service Center)（台灣基督長老教會海員漁民服務中心）

Abstract: The Seafarers and Fishermen Service Center, located in the fishing port of Kaohsiung’s Qianzhen Township, shares the experience of frontline service of foreign fishermen and the challenges they face.

Outline:

  1. The labour situation of foreign fishermen employed abroad
  2. The actual services situation of the Seafarers and Fishermen Service Center in Qianzhen Fishing Port
  3. Sharing the challenges faced by foreign fishermen on FOC vessels from cases that we handled.
  4. Care and support services for foreign fishermen

摘要：座落於高雄前鎮漁港的海員漁民服務中心以前線服務經驗分享外籍漁工的勞動處境及面臨的挑戰

大綱：

  1. 境外僱用外籍漁工的勞動處境

2.海員漁民服務中心於前鎮漁港的服務實況

3.從個案處理分享權宜船外籍漁工面臨的挑戰

4.外籍漁工關懷支持服務

Title: The Call to Care for Fishers

Speaker: Fr. Ansensius Guntur, Cs (Stella Maris Seafarers Centre Kaohsiung)（財團法人天主教社會慈善福利基金會附設海星海員中心代表）

Taiwan Fishing Industry has experienced significant progress. It becomes the second country with the largest number of distant-water fishing fleets. It contributes billions of Taiwan dollars to the Taiwan economy. Due to shortages of workers, Taiwan has employed more than thirty thousand foreign fishers in this industry. Due to the scarcity of job opportunities in their country of origin, many southeast Asian Countries send their workers to work in Taiwan Fishing Industry.
To respond to the need to care for fishers in Taiwan, the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaohsiung has entrusted the mission to Stella Maris. Stella Maris is a catholic Institution founded 100 years ago in Glasgow (Scotland). It has around 300 centres throughout the world. In Kaohsiung, Stella Maris is established by Fr. Joseph B. Donahue in 1968. Around 200 boats and fishing vessels dock in Kaohsiung port daily. Thousands of seafarers and fishers are taking part actively in the running of this sector.

With our regular visits to the port, we come to know the living condition of the fishers. We are called to find ways to care for and help them. We offer several activities for fishers, such as: to organize activities for their wellness and mental health, to educate them on knowing your rights, to do advocacy for better policies on improving their living condition, etc. The call to care for fishers is extremely important as their living condition is not as good as the profits this industry produces.

台灣遠洋漁業近年有著顯著的增長。台灣擁有世界第二多的遠洋漁船，而這些漁船也為國內經濟貢獻數億的新台幣收入。台灣政府因船上勞動力短缺，而協助這產業招聘超過30,000名的外籍漁工。另一方面，不少東南亞國家因國內工作機會稀少，也派遣他們的工人來台灣從事遠洋漁業工作。

為了回應台灣外籍漁工的關懷需求，高雄天主教總教區將這項任務託付給海星海員中心。海星海員中心是在蘇格蘭格拉斯哥發起的天主教機構，自成立100多年以來，在全球各地都設立起300多個中心，而高雄海星海員中心則是在1968年由 Joseph B. Donahue 神父發起。

高雄港每日都有約200艘的漁船等靠岸，數以千計的漁工和海務人員都頻密地進出這個港口。通過我們的日常港口拜訪，我們對漁工們的生活狀況有著深刻的了解。我們常被要求幫忙找出能解決他們問題的方法。此外，我們也為漁工們組織起數個活動，當中包括關懷他們的身心靈狀態、教育他們應有的基本權利和倡導能增進生活條件的政策等。我們呼籲關懷漁工是一項很重要的工作，因為即使遠洋漁業利潤持續報捷下，漁工們的生活狀況仍需大幅度的改進。

Panel 3. From the Perspective of Laws: Future Policies on Migrant Fishers and Marine Live of Taiwan Fishing Industries

法律界的分析：台灣遠洋漁業外籍漁工和海洋生命保育政策的未來

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Chiu Yu-Fan (School of Law, NYCU)
主持人：邱羽凡副教授（科技法律研究所，國立陽明交通大學）

Title: Review of ILO188 Work in Fishing Convention under the Framework of International Human Rights Law
標題：國際人權法的架構下檢視ILO188號漁業工作公約

國立中正大學財經法律學系副教授李孟玢
Speakers:Assoc. Prof. Lee Ming-Bin (Department of Financial and Economic Law, National Chung Cheng University)

Abstract: The connotation and function of Convention No. 188

Outline:

  1. Why does international law specifically require countries to treat foreigners?
  2. Since there is existing international human rights law, why do we still need to discuss the protection of foreigners?
  3. Introduce the content of ILO Convention No. 188 and review the related issues.

摘要:188號公約的內涵與作用
大綱：

1.國際法為何會特別要求國家如何對待外國人？

2. 不是已經有國際人權法了，為何還需外國人保護的討論？

3.國際勞工組織188號公約的內容介紹與相關問題檢討。

Title: Competition between “fishing catch” and “labour” in the international fishery market—-The pandemonium between aquatic industry interests, fishermen protection, fisheries’ survival and international pressure
標題：國際漁業市場中「漁獲」與「勞動力」的競爭—-水產利益、漁工保護、漁民生存與國際壓力的大亂鬥
國立政治大學法學院副教授林良榮
Assoc. Prof. Lin Liang-jung (College of Law, National Chengchi University)

Abstract: Difficult issues that must be faced: Method to achieve common prosperity and win-win in the development of fishery from the common history of the industry—–the establishment of the legal system of (foreign) fishermen’s maritime labour protection

Outline:

  1. The warning of the yellow card; The international realities of Taiwan being targeted by the EU and foreigners human rights policy (including labour) review: Taiwan certainly not the worst, but should it escape the responsibility?
  2. Maritime labour disputes; is it a labour protection issue for fisheries or foreign workers? Is it a problem of inshore operations, or a problem of offshore operations? Is it a matter of domestic laws and regulations, or is it a matter of recruitment channels?
  3. Institutional norms and practices; is it a question of labour protection legislation or fishery legislation? Is the Ministry of Labor or the Fisheries Agency that should be in charge? Is it a matter of the setting of labour conditions standards or the implementation of labour inspections?
  4. Legislative policies designed by the domestic legal system; should the ILO188 Convention be applied to Taiwan and how? How to deal with the labor-management relationship (fisheries and foreign workers) in the industry?

摘要：不能不面對的艱難課題：如何從歷史共業尋找漁業發展得以共榮與共贏之路—–(外籍)漁工海上勞動保護之法制建立
大綱：

1.黃牌的覺醒；台灣被歐盟盯上的國際現實處境與外國人(包括勞動)人權政策的檢討：台灣當然不是最糟的，但應躲逃嗎？

2.海上勞動爭議；是漁工的勞動保護問題，還是外國人勞工的問題？是近海作業的問題，還是遠洋的問題？是內國法律規範的問題，還是僱用途徑的問題?

3.制度規範與實踐；是勞動保護的立法問題，還是漁業立法的問題?是勞動部要出來管，還是漁業署?是勞動條件基準的設定問題還是勞動檢查實施的問題？

4.內國法制設計的立法政策；ILO188號公約是否應適用於台灣，如何適用？漁業的勞資關係(漁民與外國人勞工)如何解套？

  • Wrap up Roundtables (QnA) 綜合討論與問答環節

Chair: Dr. Poonam Sharma (Postdoc. ICCS, NYCU)
主持人：浦南（國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心博士後研究員）