MODERN SLAVERY IN NEW
ZEALAND WATERS UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND researchers revealed the first documented cases of human trafficking in New Zealand at a recent trafficking conference in Wellington. Earlier this year, Dr Christina Stringer and Glenn Simmons's paper Not in New Zealand's Waters, Surely documented labour abuses, and in some cases, disturbing human rights breaches, on foreign chartered fishing vessels contracted to New Zealand companies and operating in the exclusive economic zone. The researchers' latest work indicates many of the 2000 foreign men working in New Zealand waters are modern-day slaves, as defined by the United Nations and the European Commission.
The findings are based on interviews with Indonesian crewmembers from a number of foreign charter fishing vessels and the examination of their employment contracts, wage calculation sheets, pay slips, bank statements and other documents.
The research shows that although crew voluntarily enter into contractual agreements to work on foreign chartered vessels contracted to New Zealand companies, they are then subjected to exploitative working conditions. Some are forced to work shifts of more than 50 hours and are paid as little as $6700 a year. Some crew have their passports and other documents confiscated and debt bonds are a common tactic to keep them compliant. The researchers say they suffer from verbal, physical and occasionally sexual abuse, inhumane punishment, insanitary living conditions, food rationing and substandard food and water.
"The material we've collected on each crew member ticks most, if not all the ILO-EC trafficking indicators," Simmons says. "So the work confirms that New Zealand is not immune to trafficking in people; it is here and it has been present for a long time. We now have no excuse not to address what is a grave humanitarian issue." The full study will be released in the first half of next
year. The Pacific Trafficking in Persons Forum 2011 was organised by The Salvation Army and co-hosted with the Hagar Trust and ECPAT.
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March/April 2012 Professional Skipper 43