The Government Reports The Alleged Exploitation Of Crews On A Chinese Ship To The UN Human Rights Council

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has reported allegations of human rights violations experienced by crew members from Indonesia on a Chinese vessel, Long Xing 629, to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.

This reporting was carried out, after the government received a report of the alleged exploitation of the crew members and as evidence of the seriousness of investigating the case.

"The government is seriously investigating the alleged exploitation of Indonesian crews. Therefore, we have reported this case to the UN Human Rights Council," said Presidential Spokesperson for Legal Affairs Dini Purwono in a written statement, Thursday, May 14.

He said, before reporting the case, Indonesian Representative Ambassador Hasan Kleib had specifically asked the UN Human Rights Council to pay more attention to workers in the fishing industry.

This request was submitted on May 8 in Geneva when the UN Human Rights Council discussed global efforts to guarantee human rights protection in handling COVID-19.

Indonesia assesses that the protection of workers in the fishing industry is very important. This is because fisheries is one of the key industries in the global food and supply chain, especially in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.

In addition to moving to report the alleged exploitation of crew members to the UN Human Rights Council, at home, the police are currently pursuing the ABK distributors on suspicion of human trafficking.

"Currently, the Directorate of General Crimes at the Indonesian National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency has started to open this case with allegations of the crime of trafficking in persons and will investigate the labor supplier," he said.

Previously, a viral video described the poor working situation of Indonesian crew members on a Chinese-flagged fishing vessel. The classic problem never seems to end. Last year, a group of young Indonesian citizens became slaves on a fishing boat owned by China. They were forced to work 18 hours, plus nine months of physical and mental torture.

The news of the alleged exploitation of Indonesian crew members on a Chinese fishing boat, Long Xing, was first reported by South Korean television station MBC News. The video explains that Indonesian citizens have to work up to 18 hours a day with minimal rest.

Not to mention that Indonesian citizens are also discriminated against, such as being given filtered sea water to drink. Meanwhile, the crew who came from China were given the mineral water they brought. MBC happened to get the news because the ship was stopping at Busan, South Korea. Indonesian citizens submitted this case to the South Korean government and asked MBC to publish the case.

The video of the funeral took place on March 30. The worker named Ari (24). He had worked for more than a year and finally died on the ship. Ari was sick for one month before he died. At first his leg was swollen before he was finally declared dead.

Sadly, five of the crew members were known to be paid only US $ 120 or around Rp1.7 million for 13 months of work. This means that their monthly salary is only Rp. 100,000.