Project

GAPfish - A Global action programme against forced labour and trafficking of fishers at sea

The recommendations of the Oslo Conference will, among other things, help to consolidate an ILO project proposal – The Global Action Programme against against forced labour and trafficking of fishers at sea (GAPfish) – which aims to tackle forced labour and human trafficking in the fisheries sector.

Indeed, recent in-depth studies have described and analysed severe cases of forced labour and human trafficking in the fisheries sector. Although the fisheries sector counts among the most important economic sectors providing food security and employment worldwide, these studies reveal that, on board fishing vessels, fishers - many of them migrant workers - are subjected to extreme forms of human rights abuses, including forced labour and human trafficking.

In response to the growing concern of forced labour and human trafficking in the fishing sector, ILO is developing GAPfish, a 5 year, holistic, multifaceted and integrated Global Action Programme against forced labour and trafficking of fishers at sea.

The project aims to become a cross-cutting global initiative that will have regional and national impacts to promote and protect fishers’ human and labour rights with the following outcomes:

• Development of sustainable solutions to prevent human and labour rights abuses of fishers in recruitment and transit states;
• Enhancement of capacity for flag states to ensure compliance with international and national laws on board vessels flying their flag to prevent forced labour;
• Increased capacity of port states to address and respond to situations of forced labour in fishing;
• Establishment of a more knowledgeable consumer base of forced labour in fisheries.