ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights Southeast Asia Programme extends its programme in Indonesia for another four years

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (ILO News) - The ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights Southeast Asia Programme organized the 6th National Project Advisory Committee (NPAC) Meeting on 10 December in Jakarta. It also marked the last NPAC Meeting of the Ship to Shore Programme under the current phase.

The Ship to Shore programme has been implemented in Southeast Asian region for four years since 2020 while in Indonesia, it started in 2021. The programme is a multi-country, multi-annual initiative of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), implemented by the ILO in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

We appreciate the strategic technical assistance provided by Ship to Shore programme to this sector that has strengthen and improved Indonesia’s interministerial collaboration, policy development as well as protection of fishers, including those working onboard foreign fishing vessels.

Anwar Sanusi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Manpower 

For four years, the current phase of the programme has been actively promoting decent work for fishers, both domestic and particularly migrants. For migrant fishers, the programme promotes regular and safe labour migration and decent work for all migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in Southeast Asia. The programme has also been empowering migrant workers, their families, organizations and communities to promote and exercise their labour rights.

Anwar Sanusi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Manpower, appraised the continuous support given by the Ship to Shore programme to the government of Indonesia. He emphasized the importance of the fishing sector, along with the forestry and agriculture sectors, in Indonesia, which have absorbed 29 percent of the 138.632.511 Indonesian workforce in February 2024.

"This data shows the importance of the fishing sector to the country. Thus, we appreciate the strategic technical assistance provided by Ship to Shore programme to this sector that has strengthen and improved Indonesia’s interministerial collaboration, policy development as well as protection of fishers, including those working onboard foreign fishing vessels,” Anwar said in his opening remarks.

Our continous support to this very important sector is the testament of the strong commitment of the EU to ILO’s work in Southeast Asia region and the commitment shown by relevant stakeholders in Indonesia.

Gusrini Saiti, Programme Manager of Human Rights, Democracy, Gender and Migration of the EU Delegation in Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam 

Meanwhile Mi Zhou, Chief Technical Advisor of the Ship to Shore Programme, shared highlights of the programme implementation in all seven countries in the region, including Indonesia. She also shared the highlights from the latest independent evaluation of the programme. “The programme can only be successfully implemented with your active collaboration and cooperation. We are pleased to continue our collaboration in Indonesia as the EU has officially approved the next phase of this programme,” she said.

The last NPAC meeting was co-chaired by Purwanti Uta Djara, Head of the Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Manpower and Gusrini Saiti, Programme Manager of Human Rights, Democracy, Gender and Migration of the EU Delegation in Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. They moderated the discussions among the participating members of the NPAC.

In her closing remark, Gusrini Saiti of the European Union stated: “We are looking forward to further collaborate with the ILO for the next four years. Our continous support to this very important sector is the testament of the strong commitment of the EU to ILO’s work in Southeast Asia region and the commitment shown by relevant stakeholders in Indonesia.”