Australian Embassy
Indonesia

ASEAN Conference on Human Trafficking and Forced Labour in the Fishing Industry

Remarks by Ambassador Paul Grigson

15 August 2016

My Government pays a great deal of attention to the issues of human trafficking and forced labour – in the fishing industry and in our region as a whole.

No country or region is immune from this problem. The Asia-Pacific region hosts two thirds of the estimated 45.8 million people in modern slavery worldwide.

This is a criminal activity on a massive scale. Human trafficking and related exploitation generates an estimated US$150 billion in illicit profit in any one year. In the fishing industry, there is a connection between illegal (IUU) fishing and human, drugs and weapons trafficking.

No single response can end human trafficking. Governments need to work in partnership with NGOs and communities, with the private sector, and with each other, to address this challenge.

In March, Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop launched our International Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery The strategy outlines how Australia plans to fight these crimes.

First, we will focus our efforts on working with countries in our region. Regional cooperation is vital for detecting, prosecuting and preventing IUU vessels from being able to land their catch.

Second, we will urge countries to work more closely with the multilateral institutions dealing with trafficking and slavery.

Third, with Indonesia, we will continue our leadership of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and other related transnational crimes. Since 2002, we have jointly driven efforts towards a regional solution.

Fourth, we will work with business to ensure good practices in their supply chains. This is quickly becoming a commercial imperative to those businesses that cannot show themselves to be free from forced labour will eventually be abandoned by their customers so we are developing a proposal for a Bali Process Business Forum. It will bring together ministers and business leaders from the region. We are aiming to launch it in the first half of 2017.

Australia’s regional trafficking program

We have partnerships with all ten ASEAN countries through the Australia-Asia Program to Combat Trafficking in Persons (AAPTIP). Our current program is AUD50 million over five years until 2018. This includes transnational investigations and support for almost 4,000 criminal justice practitioners and training of more than 1,200 investigators, prosecutors and judges across the region.

Australia has also invested AUD20 million investment in safe migration in ASEAN under TRIANGLE II (2015-2025). This assists ASEAN countries in migration law reforms and in providing legal and financial advice to migrant workers and their families.

Eastern Indonesia

One good example of Australia’s support was during the terrible cases uncovered in the fishing industry last year in eastern Indonesia (Benjina).

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) asked Australia to support a humanitarian response for over one thousand men from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos who had been trafficked into servitude and left stranded on islands in Maluku province.

Through the Australia Department of Immigration and Border Protection and my Embassy, Australia funded over AUD 2 million [over 22 billion rupiah] to provide basic necessities, such as food, water, and health, hygiene and sanitation facilities. The funding helped, importantly, to repatriate a large number of them and support reintegration into their communities.

And this funding also supports this workshop today, which I hope will advance our regional efforts and provide fruitful ideas for preventative strategies.


Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kedubesaustralia/albums/72157671317712880