One FCV reflagged

March 8th, 2013 at 1:00 pm by David Farrar

Simon Bridges announced:

The first reflagging of a foreign charter fishing vessel as New Zealand-registered is good news for foreign crews fishing in our waters, and for New Zealand’s international reputation, say Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Labour Minister Simon Bridges.

The Ukrainian fishing vessel FV Mainstream, chartered by Independent Fisheries, was today officially reflagged, bringing it under New Zealand labour, and health and safety laws.

The reflagging, carried out by Maritime New Zealand, required Independent Fisheries to ensure the vessel fully complied with New Zealand maritime rules and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. Reflagging also requires the crew to have appropriate New Zealand-equivalent qualifications.

“The Government is committed to making it compulsory for all foreign charter fishing vessels to be reflagged by 2016, following concerns raised in a Ministerial inquiry last year into safety, labour, and fishing practices,” says Mr Guy.

Mr Bridges says reflagging brings the crew of foreign charter vessels under the protection of New Zealand law in terms of labour conditions and health and safety.

This is a welcome step that one ship has already reflagged.

The conditions on some FCVs was akin to slavery. There was physical and sexual abuse as well as multiple breaches of NZ laws (which could not be enforced). It had to end, and I’m proud the Government decide to do so.

Not all FCVs were a problem. In fact as I understand it the Ukranian ones had relatively few problems. It tended to be the Korean ones than used Indonesian labour. What will be interesting is when they reflag – if they do at all.

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Posted in NZ Politics | 9 Comments »

Human Trafficking in NZ

January 10th, 2013 at 10:12 am by David Farrar

Did you know NZ is not immune to human trafficking? A new website provides information on the problem, both globally and locally. It is called the modern day slave trade, and should be ended. Some stats you may not know:

1. There are currently more slaves than at any other time in history – with some estimates of the number being as high as twenty-seven-million.

2. Sex trafficking is one of the three largest industries, coming after the arms and drugs industries. It is estimated to be worth around $32 billion.

3. Many slaves are between the ages of 12 and 14.

4. In many cases, children are sold by their own parents due to extreme poverty. Many parents feel that they have no choice but to sell one of their children in order to provide for the rest of the family. 

5. In some countries, such as India, children are sold in to the sex trade as part of a religious tradition. These children are sold to temples as ‘gifts’ at ages as young as eight years old. These girls are then used by priests for their sexual pleasure, and then later on sold again to brothels.

6. 68% of female sex trafficking victims meet the clinical critera for post-traumatic stress disorder – many of these victims are not rescued, and therefore do not receive the treatment they need.

7. One of the biggest causes of sex trafficking is poverty. This is because in severe cases people begin to feel desperate and are willing to take more dangerous risks in search of a better life.

8. Only 1 – 2% of victims are ever rescued according to www.thea21campaign.org

9. In many countries police officers are extremely corrupt and therefore contributed towards the problem of sex trafficking. Countries such as India and Cambodia have seen police officers and government officials contribute towards the growth of the industry as they are frequent customers of such brothels and make very little effort to enforce any anti-trafficking laws. 

10. Around half of the trafficking victims in the world are under the age of 18. And the average age of a trafficking victim is just 12 years old.

11. Children who have been trafficked are far more likely to develop mental health problems, as well as engage in substance abuse and engage in prostitution once they are adults.

12. Many trafficking victims are scared to seek help because they fear that the traffickers will hurt their families, or that they will be deported and treated as criminals.

 Alas, while the world has improved in so many ways in the last 100 years, there is still a huge amount more to be done.

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Posted in International Politics | 47 Comments »