Sustainable oceans cannot be achieved without human rights
“We cannot have great seafood tainted with human rights abuses,” Jan Bebbington, professor at the University of Birmingham, said at an expert meeting facilitated by the Institute. Her statement refers to the increasing commercial exploitation, lack of regulations, forced labour and other challenges facing the fisheries sector in many countries. It also underpins the critical importance of a global project on sustainable oceans, that the Institute initiated in 2018 in a unique collaboration with organisations across different sectors.
Empowering small scale-fishers and fish workers
Around 800 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. Small scale-fishers and fish workers are the ones suffering the most from weak regulations, and the other challenges facing the sector. The project aims at protecting their human rights.The sector cannot be improved until they know and claim their rights, such as their right to food, to an adequate standard of living and to decent work.
In this regard SDG target 14.b which aims to “provide access of small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets” provides an important framework for the project, together with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP).
Holding governments accountable
To document and show the human rights implications in the sectors, the Institute facilitates the conduct of Sector Wide Impact Assessments in Bangladesh and Chile and analyses in Africa.
Based on the findings, the Institute and our partners will produce recommendations and tools that small-scale fishers, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders can use to hold governments and the private sector accountable for the human rights situation in the sector as well as ensure the implementation of SDG 14.b.
The project is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and implemented in collaboration with
- Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS)
- COAST Trust – Bangladesh
- Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF)
- Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos en Chile (INDH)