Today, the US government has once again awarded Taiwan a Tier 1 ranking in the most recent edition of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The high placement was granted despite its significant role in forced labor and human trafficking in the distant water fishing (DWF) industry. Greenpeace offices and a range of human rights groups have been calling for Taiwan to be downgraded to Tier 2.

Today, the US government has once again awarded Taiwan a Tier 1 ranking in the most recent edition of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The high placement was granted despite its significant role in forced labor and human trafficking in the distant water fishing (DWF) industry. Greenpeace offices and a range of human rights groups have been calling for Taiwan to be downgraded to Tier 2.

Washington D.C., July 19, 2022 – Today, the US government has once again awarded Taiwan a Tier 1 ranking in the most recent edition of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The high placement was granted despite its significant role in forced labor and human trafficking in the distant water fishing (DWF) industry. Greenpeace offices and a range of human rights groups have been calling for Taiwan to be downgraded to Tier 2.

Mallika Talwar, Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace USA said:

“Last month, the Biden administration made grand announcements promising a whole of government approach to addressing illegal fishing and associated forced labor and human trafficking in the seafood supply chain. However, what we’re seeing instead is the US government failing to honor its own policy and failing to lead us towards global change on these issues. American companies that source seafood from Taiwanese fleets will continue to benefit from the exploitation of workers, and American consumers will continue to unwittingly buy seafood tainted with human rights abuses. If the US government is really serious about combatting illegal fishing and human trafficking, it would downgrade Taiwan immediately. We call on them to honor their words with action.”[2]

For the past 12 years, Taiwan has kept its Tier 1 status. This is despite the US government recognizing and blocking goods on Taiwanese-owned and flagged fishing vessels with known forced labor abuses.[3,4]

Earlier this year in Taiwan, nine people who worked on board the distant water fishing vessel Da Wang were indicted for their suspected involvement in the abuse of 20 Indonesian and Filipino workers. The Taiwanese government also raised wages for migrant fishers by US$100. Even so, its laws and regulations are still not in line with international standards.[5,6]

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[1]https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/337308-2022-TIP-REPORT-inaccessible.pdf

[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/27/fact-sheet-president-biden-signs-national-security-memorandum-to-combat-illegal-unreported-and-unregulated-fishing-and-associated-labor-abuses/

[3] https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/52259/us-government-cbp-finding-forced-labor-taiwan-fishing-dawang/

[4] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/u-s-government-blocks-seafood-imports-from-taiwanese-flagged-fishing-vessel-for-suspected-forced-labor/

[5] https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/53401/nine-indicted-abusing-crew-taiwan-fishing-vessel-dawang/

[6] https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2022/07/19/2003782022