JAKARTA — Indonesia and Spain have signed an agreement on accrediting Indonesian migrant deckhands, as part of efforts to beef up protection against modern slavery aboard fishing vessels. Under the mutual recognition agreement, Spain will validate competency documents issued by Indonesian authorities for Indonesians seeking to work on board Spanish fishing vessels. “With the MRA between Indonesia and Spain, more detailed information is needed regarding what administrative requirements are needed for migrant workers if they are going to work in Spain, so that they get guarantees and protection according to the law,” I Nyoman Radiarta, the Indonesian fisheries ministry’s head of research and development, said in a statement issued Feb. 1. Officials from the Indonesian and Spanish governments have signed an agreement that will see Spanish regulators recognize competency certification issued by Indonesia for Indonesian fishing vessel workers. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. According to the fisheries ministry, some 1,000 Indonesians worked aboard Spanish fishing boats in 2021, earning on average about 1,000 euros ($1,075) per month. Indonesians heading overseas to work on foreign fishing vessels must obtain a certificate as required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the 1995 Convention of Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F), which Indonesia ratified in 2019. STCW-F prescribes international guidelines for the protection of crews working aboard domestic and foreign boats, and the IMO is scheduled in 2024 to evaluate Indonesia’s efforts to implement the agreement. Indonesia, one of the world’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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