After a television documentary accused a Scottish fishing company of modern-day slavery, a Catholic charity is calling on Britain’s Home Office to do more to protect people in the fishing industry. Source: Crux.
BBC One Scotland last week aired a documentary accusing the TN Trawlers fishing company of modern-day slavery and people trafficking.
Several former TN Trawlers workers were interviewed for the documentary Slavery at Sea, which claimed between 2012 and 2020, the UK Home Office officially recognised 35 individuals from the Philippines, Ghana, India, and Sri Lanka as victims of modern slavery after their cases were referred for review.
These workers had been employed by TN Trawlers, headquartered in Annan, a small town on Scotland’s southern coast.
The BBC said the three-year investigation by the current affairs program Disclosure “uncovers allegations of modern slavery aboard UK fishing vessels”.
The TN Group has consistently denied any accusations of modern slavery or human trafficking, asserting that their employees were treated well and compensated fairly.
UK-based Catholic maritime welfare charity Stella Maris is calling on the UK Home Office to work to protect maritime employees.
Stella Maris chief Tim Hill said the charity has been supporting people in the fishing industry who are caught up in slavery and labour exploitation for over 10 years, providing humanitarian and pastoral support, including shelter, food, clothing and financial assistance, as well as signposting them to other organisations for legal and professional advice.
Mr Hill said that while the vast majority of fishing companies looked after and treated their employees well, those victims identified were invariably from developing countries and were suffering at the hands of a minority of unscrupulous employers.
“This is an invisible crime, taking place out of sight at sea,” MR Hill said.
“The authorities and welfare organisations must get better at recognising what modern-day slavery is, reporting it and supporting swift criminal prosecutions against those few bad operators.”
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UK charity calls on Government to do more for ‘modern slaves’ in fishing industry (By Charles Collins, Crux)
