Omission of Modern Slavery

By Daniel Awigra and Ariela Naomi Syifa

Seafarers working as vessel crew [known as Anak Buah Kapal (ABK, vessel crew)] are considered migrant workers, as they work overseas for economic reasons along with its entailing vulnerabilities. Human trafficking, forced labor, and other phenomena that can be categorized as contemporary forms of slavery1 are just the tip of the iceberg. A report from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Trade Union (SBMI) investigating cases between 2015- 2020, revealed how Indonesian fishers worked barely within minimum protection: worked ridiculously long hours, had their wages unpaid, and endured poor labor conditions that in some cases resulted in death.2 In “Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas” (2019), Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA) analysed the complaints from Indonesian migrant vessel crews over 13 months from 2019-2020. The report unveils the modes and types of forced labor that frequently occur onboard distant water fishing vessels, and various indicators that indicate how forced labor has been increasing. GPSEA identified several forced labor elements, including wage deduction (87%), horrible working and living conditions (82%), fraud (80%), and abuse of vulnerability (67%). The report also noted an increasing trend of reported cases: from 34 cases (eight months from December 2018 - July 2019) to 62 cases (13 months from May 2019 - June 2020).3 This indicates a lack of serious effort by the government to properly address these issues for years.

Jakarta: Greenpeace Indonesia, 2022. 48p.