Author: Truth & Hammer

Enslaved, beaten, malnourished, and so desperate for water he had to collect condensation to drink: Rahmatullah left Indonesia seeking better prospects at sea — instead he endured a living hell. The global fishing industry is riddled with forced labour, anti-trafficking experts say, warning that consumers are unaware of the “true cost” of the seafood they buy in stores and restaurants. Exploited workers face non-payment, overwork, violence, injury, and even death. Indonesia and Southeast Asia are major sources of such labour and unscrupulous brokers target the poor and uneducated with promises of good wages at sea. Rahmatullah was told he was heading to Peruvian waters where he would receive $400 a month salary, plus a per ton bonus, but he was allegedly duped by an Indonesian recruiting agency and trafficked to Somalia, where he spent nine brutal months aboard a Chinese fishing vessel, working 18-hour days. “I felt like a slave,” the 24-year-old told AFP, adding: “The Chinese crew drank clean water while we had to collect water from the air conditioning.” “We were often beaten when we didn’t catch enough, even if we were sick.”

– ‘Couldn’t fight back’ –

Rahmatullah is one of 40 Indonesians pushing for compensation after allegedly being tricked with false promises by recruiter PT Maritim Samudera. Some were sent to vessels in the seas off Japan, and others to boats sailing the Somalian coast. In interviews with AFP and accounts provided to police and government officials, the men recounted beatings and psychological abuse, hunger, and dehydration. Two crewmates died from thirst and exhaustion, according to Rahmatullah’s testimony. Most of the men subsisted on white rice scattered with cabbage or boiled fish, while some grew so desperate for water they collected condensation from the air conditioning unit. “The food was terrible,” said 21-year-old Arianus Ziliwu, who was on a boat in Japanese waters. “And the sleeping conditions didn’t seem fit for humans,” he explained. Cellphone video footage and images provided to AFP showed some men slept without mattresses in a grimy cargo hold. “We couldn’t fight back — I’m from a village and didn’t know any better,” added Rahmatullah, who had never worked on a fishing boat before. Both groups were rescued after sending SOS messages in brief windows of access to mobile internet.

– Targeting the vulnerable –

The young men spent between six and nine months manning nets and packing fish before being saved, and all are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, according to sworn statements to police. Faced with plummeting global fish stocks due to overfishing, seafood companies have increasingly turned to vulnerable migrant workers in a bid to remain profitable, anti-trafficking advocates said. “If you want cheap tuna or squid, the way to do it is with cheap labour,” said Arifsyah M. Nasution, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia. “And cheap labour comes from Southeast Asia,” he added. The Global Slavery Index says labour exploitation and modern slavery in some fisheries are well documented. But few shoppers know about these high-seas horrors. “There is still very little awareness among consumers about the true costs and hidden facts of the seafood products that they buy at stores and supermarkets,” he said. Critics say the Indonesian government is not doing enough to combat widespread abuse of its migrant sailors, despite efforts to clamp down on human rights violations in its own territorial waters. Although there are no reliable estimates on the number of Indonesian migrant fishermen that fall victim to trafficking, authorities estimated in 2016 that some 250,000 Indonesians were working as “unprotected” crew on foreign fishing vessels. Most are destined for fishing fleets that often obscure their origins through foreign flagging, a system that complicates monitoring and jurisdictional oversight by allowing ships to register in a country other than the owner’s own, to avoid strict labour and environmental standards. Both public and private agencies in Indonesia are licensed to send people abroad, but some recruiters — and fishermen — choose to work outside formal channels, and poor oversight puts workers at risk. “The first problem is lack of supervision, the second is toothless enforcement,” said Imam Syafi’i, from the Indonesian Seafarers’ Movement (PPI).

Venezuela’s murderous ‘Crazy Boys’ gang who make their living by kidnapping in one of the world’s most violent cities – Caracas – have given an astonishing interview shedding light on the reality of life inside the failing socialist state. The gangsters make money by kidnapping ordinary citizens off the streets and demanding ransoms that can be as little as a car or fancy watch, but such meagre items still represent a tidy profit in the impoverished nation. Venezuela has been ruled by Russian-backed Nicolás Maduro for five years, and the country was at the centre of a stand off between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump this year as the White House tried to support Juan Guadio who claimed to have won an election. However Maduro clung to power and socialist rule continues in the nation amid soaring hyper inflation that is making many of Caracas’ hardened criminals consider leaving the country. Feared Caracas street gangster El Negrito, 24, sleeps with a silver revolver under his pillow and says he’s lost track of his murder count. El Negrito says the hyperinflation has disrupted his bloody track record and firing his gun has become an expensive luxury. Ten bolivars – now worth just $1 – used to get you a gun, now that doesn’t even get you a pack of cigarettes.

‘If you empty your clip, you’re shooting off $15,’ said El Negrito, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition he be identified only by his street name and photographed wearing a hoodie and face mask to avoid attracting unwelcome attention. ‘You lose your pistol or the police take it and you’re throwing away $800.’ He leads for-hire hoodlums called the Crazy Boys, a band that forms part of an intricate criminal network in Petare, one of Latin America’s largest and most feared slums.  The gangster, who agreed to an interview with two associates at their hillside hideout in Caracas, said his group now carries out roughly five kidnappings a year, down considerably from years past.  Such express abductions are big business. Typically, a victim is nabbed and held hostage for up to 48 hours while loved ones scramble to gather as much cash as they can find, with kidnappers focused on speed and a quick return rather than on the size of the payout. El Negrito said the ransom they set depends on what a victim’s car costs, and a deal can turn deadly if demands aren’t met.

But like many of his associates, he has considered leaving the trade in Venezuela and emigrating. He said some people have quit the world of crime and sought more honest work abroad, fearing stiff penalties in other countries where laws are more enforced.  While explaining that he struggles to support his wife and young daughter, El Negrito passed his silver pistol between his hands. A Bible lay open to Proverbs on a dresser as a breeze turned the pages.  Another Crazy Boy called Dog, said, ‘A pistol used to cost one of these bills,’ crumpling up a 10 bolivar ($1) note that can no longer be used to buy a single cigarette. ‘Now, this is nothing.’ Bullets are expensive at $1 each and with less cash circulating on the street, he says robberies just don’t pay like they used to.  Officials of Maduro’s socialist administration stopped publishing statistics charting crime trends long ago.

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