Ecuadorian inspectors and authorities train to identify forced labour on fishing vessels
ILO and its partners, Cornell University and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), together with their counterparts in Ecuador – Ministry of Labour, the Vice-Ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries, the National Directorate of Aquatic Spaces (DIRNEA) – organised a second edition of the workshop on labour inspections on board fishing vessels, which this time focused on identifying forced labour conditions in fishing.
10 December 2024
MANTA, Ecuador (ILO News) – The port city of Manta was the scene of the second workshop held to improve labour inspections in the Ecuadorian fishing sector, where emphasis was placed on the issue of forced labour, given that it is one of the main challenges at the global level to ensure that working conditions are adequate for commercial fishing workers.
After three days of training and through a practical activity on board a vessel, more than 35 inspectors and authorities from the organising institutions were provided with the knowledge and practical tools that will allow them to verify the labour situation of fishery workers, especially in the identification of indicators of forced labour.
The importance of this activity was to articulate and promote dialogue between the participating institutions for future inspection activities at national, provincial and local levels. The Minister of Labour, Ivonne Núñez Figueroa, pointed out that these training workshops for the identification of forced labour in fishing allow “to know all the tools, that have been incorporated in different countries, to face the problem of illegal fishing, and allows us to learn and continue advancing in legislation, to confront these evils that were never unknown”.
The activity was also a great opportunity for the participants to learn about new tools and protocols for working on board fishing vessels, such as the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188), which establishes minimum requirements to ensure decent working conditions:
“the training received will allow me to understand in my work and development, where a norm should be regulated or structured to allow us to implement international conventions as important as Convention No. 188 in a short period of time” – Kleber Guerra, DIRNEA.
The workshop is part of the technical assistance offered by the ILO to the Government of Ecuador to improve the working conditions of fishery workers, through the Fair Fishing project, which is financially supported by the United States Department of Labor. From this workshop, “we hope to advance in the creation of innovative and effective solutions to solve the problems that already exist, and promote decent work also hand in hand with workers’ and employers‘ organizations”, said Italo B. Cardona, Director of the ILO Office for the Andean Countries.