The Confederation of Trade Union Myanmar (CTUM), along with the 11 fishermen they saved earlier this month, held a press conference yesterday at Summit Parkview Hotel to allow the victims to retell the experiences of their slavery. We were always beaten and cursed at by the helmsperson every day because we are not skillful at fishing, said Ko Maung San, 28, from Kyun Nyo village in Bago Region’s Monyo township. Sometimes we were attacked with knives and slingshots. After one month of working on the boat, I knew that we had been sold by the broker. His friend, also from his home village, went to Yephyu township for a job in April because floods had wiped out farming jobs in their area. The son of one of their mutual friends, Bo Bo, got them work on a fishing boat called Zaw Naing, which was one of several Asin village fishing ships owned by Daw Shwe Lone. The escaped fishers said they were forced to work for 19 hours a day, except when they had sentry work, which involved watching out for authorities who might stop them from fishing in the prohibited parts of the sea. During those times they worked 21 hours. They wore only one outfit all the time, they said, because all of their clothes were thrown into the sea by the helmsperson and his assistants. I arrived in Mawlamyine township in Mon State for a job but I was sent to that boat on a cycle taxi, said Ko Min Min, 37, from Hinthada township, Ayeyarwady Region. I was also beaten on the boat. The brokers took a fee of K500,000 from boat owner Daw Shwe Lone. Escaped victims said they spent three months on the boat and were never paid. One of the fishers jumped into the sea before the other 11 were saved by the CTUM and human-trafficking police. I would estimate that 90 percent of the fishers we asked were being treated like us, said U Arkar from Ayeyarwady Region. I saw some kill themselves. We all wanted to jump into the sea to escape. We saw some dead bodies with no hands, and some with no head, floating on the water. For a year, he worked for a salary at sea before being sold into slavery. I would like to appeal to the CTUM and the human-trafficking police force to save the rest of the victims from the fishing boats, he added. They were all being treated inhumanely by the helmspeople and the leaders of the ships. CTUM officials said they initially saved Saw Jorni, who had called the CTUM for help on a phone on July 8. On July 12, the CTUM and traffic police saved the other 10 victims from the Zaw Naing after the victims sent an SOS letter. Trafficking police arrested the helmsperson’s wife and assistants. They also arrested four brokers and brought charges against them on July 18, according to a press statement. CTUM’s chair U Maung Maung said Myanmar needs to deal with human-trafficking issues. The United States released a study in 2015 ranking Myanmar in the worst category for human trafficking, he said. Last year, fish products out of Thailand and Indonesia were sanctioned by Western countries because of human-trafficking issues, U Maung Maung said. Now there is a human-trafficking case in a local fishery. We need to prepare for those cases. Every fishery businessperson must check for these issues at their fishery, he said. Although these cases have been happening in a particular region, it can impact the whole country. If we do not deal with the issue fast enough, the fishery products across the whole country will be sanctioned by Western countries.
2016 The Myanmar Times.