Indonesia has launched the new phase of the Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia: Safe Migration for Decent Work in the Blue Economy program. The program’s goal is to promote safe labor migration and decent work for a sustainable fisheries and seafood supply chain in South-East Asia, addressing the specific vulnerabilities that workers face in these sectors and supporting coordinated responses across Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The national work plan includes key activities aligned with four strategic objectives: strengthening regional cooperation on labor migration, including through ASEAN-level collaboration; reinforcing legal and policy frameworks to enhance protections for fishers and seafood workers; promoting responsible business conduct through improved recruitment practices and due diligence; and empowering workers and their communities through legal support, promotion of collective bargaining agreement, empowerment of migrant resource center for migrant fishers, financial literacy, and reintegration services.
The program will provide technical assistance tailored to the fishing and seafood supply chain in Indonesia, including capture fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood processing. It will also address risks in the labour migration process, such as recruitment and placement, exploitation, and forced labor.
“The progress made in the previous phase has brought tangible benefits to Indonesian fishers, seafood processing workers, and migrant fishers employed abroad,” said Saiti Gusrini, a representative from the European Union Delegation for Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam and the chair of the National Project Advisory Committee. “With fisheries being a vital export commodity, we believe the programme will make a strategic contribution to strengthening the industry by promoting decent work across Indonesia’s Blue Economy.”
The program is a regional initiative funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Labor Organization in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
