L’indagine “Trapped at sea: exposing North Korean forced labour on China’s Indian Ocean tuna fleet” dell’Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) ripresa da GreenReport denuncia la schiavitù dei lavoratori nordcoreani sui pescherecci cinesi nell’Oceano Indiano.

Secondo l’indagine, il tipo di attività svolta dagli equipaggi nordcoreani sui pescherecci cinesi, e in particolare il numero di anni che presumibilmente hanno trascorso in mare, «Costituiscono un lavoro forzato di una portata che supera di gran lunga quella cui si assiste in un’industria ittica mondiale già piena di abusi». Le indagini dell’EJF dimostrano che «Le navi che presumibilmente impiegano manodopera nordcoreana hanno potenzialmente rifornito i mercati ittici del Regno Unito, dell’Ue e dell’Asia», violando normative internazionali e nazionali.

L’EJF ha rilevato abusi fisici e verbali, lavoro straordinario eccessivo, shark finning (rimozione delle pinne di squalo) e cattura di specie proibite, inclusi delfini. Il rapporto EJF chiede misure di trasparenza e regolamentazione urgenti per combattere il lavoro forzato in mare.

The North Korean regime routinely exports labour in order to generate revenue, which is suspected in part to fund its nuclear programmes. It is accused of “systematically requir[ing] forced, uncompensated labour from much of its population to sustain its economy”. As such, the use of North Korean labour outside of the country is outlawed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council, and international actors such as the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA) have also developed legal frameworks to prevent goods produced by North Koreans from entering their supply chains. China is a key destination for North Korean labour, with the country believed to host as many as 100,000 North Korean workers. Recent investigations have identified the use of North Koreans in Chinese seafood processing plants, from which products were then sold to the EU and the USA.  This occurs within the context of broader concerns around the activities of China’s global fishing operations, in which illegal fishing, human rights abuses and the use of forced labour are systemic. For instance, a recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) that focused on Chinese vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) – the fishing ground for the vessels detailed in this report – identified 177 suspected or confirmed offences of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) f ishing or human rights abuses (67 of which related to IUU fishing, 18 human rights abuses and 92 both) on 71 vessels operating in the region between 2017 and 2023.