On June 18th, a meaningful forum was held in Taipei City. The speaker, Mr. Jen-Shin Lee from Rerum Novarum Center, Mrs. Cecilia Huang from Stella Maris Taichung, Mr. Chin Lee from the local community, and Father Louis Gendron, S.J. shared their observations and experience of helping to solve the difficulties of migrant fishers in Taiwan.
This forum called for caring and assistance to the migrant fishers. Individuals can join related volunteering activities and implement the policy or the guidance of the government to help the migrant fishers and protect their working rights.
More than one hundred people attended the event and gave supportive feedback. Mr Yi-Hsien Chiu, official of Taiwan Fisheries agency and volunteer of Stella Maris, who also attended the forum, said that the Taiwan government has launched an “Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights”, putting more effort on the port labor inspection and improving regulations to protect rights of the migrant fishers. Furthermore, he also claimed that local community and volunteers can give direct help or knowledge support to the migrant fishers since they are closer and have more local resources.
Taiwan’s Catholic community and related organizations will continue to bring peace and love to the migrant fishers. They will also keep communicating with the government and lobby for better cooperation creating a friendly working environment for migrant fishers.