The theme for this event marking World Fisheries Day 2018 was “Labour rights are human rights: working together to ensure the rights of fishers – fighting trafficking and forced labour in the fishing sector”;and it was on this subject that His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson presented the Holy See’s message at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
As reported by Vatican news, In his presentation, the Cardinal addressed, what he called, “persistent challenging issues” faced by the fisheries and aquaculture sector, noting in particular, the massive exploitation of fishers, including numerous cases of forced labour, human trafficking and disappearance at sea. “We see direct links”, he added, “between all these abuses and the use of flags of convenience, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and transnational crime.” Delivering his message the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said, “from this distressing and painful reality, fishery workers are crying out for help; and, as a Church, we cannot close our ears and we cannot remain silent.”
Another issue that His Eminence Cardinal Turkson touched on was the need to ratify fishery agreements, which if fully implemented by all States, “could, he said, dramatically change the life of fishery workers, their families and the environmental status of fishing resources
