3 countries investigate fishing slavery exposed by AP
Source: Associated Press
3 countries investigate fishing slavery exposed by AP
By ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON, Associated Press | April 2, 2015 | Updated: April 2, 2015 3:16pm
BENJINA, Indonesia (AP) — Officials from three countries are traveling to remote islands in eastern Indonesia to investigate how thousands of foreign fishermen wound up there as slaves and were forced to catch seafood that could eventually end up being exported to the United States and elsewhere.
A week after The Associated Press published a yearlong investigation into the problem — including showing men locked in a company cage — delegations from Thailand and Indonesia visited the island village of Benjina. Officials from Myanmar are scheduled to visit the area next week to try to determine how many of their citizens are stuck there and what can be done to bring them home.
"No one seemed to be aware of the problem, and now that they are, they want to do something as quickly as possible," said Steve Hamilton, deputy chief of mission at the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, in Indonesia, which is working with authorities to assist the fishermen.
In Benjina, some officials saw a graveyard where dozens of fishermen are buried. Others talked to men who have been stranded there for months or even years after being brought to Indonesia from Thailand and forced to work under brutal conditions on boats with Thai captains.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/3-countries-investigate-fishing-slavery-exposed-6174276.php
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