India: Fishermen endure exploitation & abuse on UK company's vessels, receive no protection, while seeking livelihoods abroad
الملخص
Date Reported: 3 إبريل 2024
الموقع: المملكة المتحدة
الشركات
GP Shipping Services - Employerالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: 1
عمال مهاجرون: ( 1 - الهند , صيد السمك , Men , Documented migrants )القضايا
رسوم التوظيفالرد
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: a director at GP Shipping Services said the company has never received a complaint about any of his agents collecting fees to provide jobs.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
الملخص
Date Reported: 3 إبريل 2024
الموقع: المملكة المتحدة
الشركات
Seafood Ecosse - Employerالفئة المتأثرة
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
عمال مهاجرون: ( Number unknown - الهند , صيد السمك , Men , Documented migrants )القضايا
الترهيب والتهديد , Harassment (other than sexual) , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Timeالرد
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
الإجراءات المتخذة: Seafood Ecosse did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
نوع المصدر: News outlet
"How Indian fishers suffer exploitation and abuse on UK boats", 3 April 2024
Mariyappan, who belongs to a fishing community in Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu, immediately accepted the offer, from the Star Fishing Company.
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The next morning, the United Kingdom Border Force arrived at the vessel and confiscated all the Indian fishermen’s documents, including passports and discharge books, which are documents that record seafarers’ work experience and qualifications. They then arrested all three for allegedly breaking a law that bars transit-visa holders from entering the country except when they are passing through it. They were also accused of violating a rule that bars fishers with transit visas from working within 22 km of the British coast.
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Star Fishing Company did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
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British recruitment agencies started hiring Indian crew for the United Kingdom’s fishing industry only around five years ago – they found these workers with the help of agents in India.
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Under the transit-visa system, fishing companies hire seafarers or deckhands from outside the country, and outside the European Union, for as little as a third of the price of British crewmen.
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Once on board, seafarers are no longer governed by the United Kingdom’s employment laws and immigration controls, a legal loophole used by fishing companies, boat owners, and skippers to exploit and abuse migrant workers, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation.