Africans slaves on Chinese vessel in Uruguay
Africans slaves on Chinese vessel in Uruguay
2014-05-22 05:00
Montevideo - A group of 28 African immigrants were held in slavery on a fishing vessel off the coast of Uruguay, beaten and forced to work without pay, attorneys said on Wednesday.
The migrants, 24 of whom were from Sierra Leone and the rest from Ghana, said they had not been paid "a penny" since boarding the China-flagged vessel seven months ago.
They were initially divided up between three fishing boats but, upon Uruguay's territorial waters, they were transferred to a single vessel, who name has not been disclosed, docked in Montevideo on Sunday and were taken to a hotel. A complaint was filed late on Tuesday.
"It's a case of forced labour," Isabel Camarano, a lawyer with Uruguay's fishermen's union, told reporters.
Camarano said the men, who were taken from port to port as forced labour, were also abused. Doctors have confirmed that they have wounds and scars consistent with having been beaten, according to Camarano.
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