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	Migrant workers in Qatar cannot afford more broken promises from FIFA by Amnesty International   FIFA President Gianni Infantino cannot afford to continue the organization’s indifference to human rights abuses in Qatar, said Amnesty International, following the publication of a report identifying major shortcomings in FIFA’s policies and practices.   FIFA hired John Ruggie, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, to review and report on the organization’s business practices in December 2015. While the report sets out broad organizational human rights reforms, it does not specifically tackle the human rights crisis in Qatar, where thousands of World Cup workers are at risk of abuse.   “FIFA has had its head in the sand about the abuses in Qatar for more than five years, telling itself and the world that the Qatari authorities will fix things. That has not happened, and now only concerted FIFA action to prevent abuses on World Cup sites will save the soul of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,” said Mustafa Qadri, Gulf Migrants’ Rights Researcher at Amnesty International.   “The Ruggie report warns that FIFA has ‘a long road ahead’ from this ‘initial commitment to human rights’. But migrant workers in Qatar cannot wait. They need human rights protections now. While FIFA dawdles, they are at risk of a shocking catalogue of abuses, including forced labour. Gianni Infantino cannot hide behind this report. He needs to take concrete action right now to address abuses in Qatar.”   On 31 March 2016, Amnesty International published a report exposing abuse of construction workers building Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, which will host a World Cup semi-final in 2022. FIFA’s response was shockingly indifferent to the abuses, which in some cases amounted to forced labour.   The report, The ugly side of the beautiful game: Exploitation on a Qatar 2022 World Cup site, called on FIFA to:   Publish a human rights framework with concrete steps and periodic reporting to ensure that the 2022 World Cup is not delivered by an exploited workforce.   Carry out its own independent regular inspections of labour conditions in Qatar, making investigation activities, findings and remedial actions public.   Publicly push the Qatari authorities to publish a timetable for systematic reform ahead of an expected mid-2017 peak in World Cup construction, when the number of World Cup stadium workers is expected to hit 36,000.   FIFA has yet to act on these recommendations.   Background: Litany of abuses exposed   Amnesty International’s report documented workers living in squalid and cramped accommodation, being threatened for complaining about their conditions, not being paid for several months. Employers also confiscated their passports, or denied them residence or exit permits, meaning that they could not leave the country and leaving them at risk of detention and deportation as “absconded” workers.   Amnesty International also uncovered evidence that the staff of one labour supply company used the threat of penalties to exact work from some migrants such as withholding pay, handing workers over to the police or stopping them from leaving Qatar. This amounts to forced labour under international law.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/04/migrant-workers-in-qatar-cannot-afford-more-broken-promises-from-fifa/ Visit the related web page
	China''s super trawlers are stripping the ocean bare as its hunger for seafood grows by Matthew Carney Global Voices, agencies   Captain Lin Jianchang is a fisherman born and bred. Sitting on his small trawler mending nets, the 54-year-old says times are tough.   "When I started to fish we could fill our boat completely in an hour, we couldn''t move, there were fish everywhere," he says. "Now there''s less fish and it''s rare to get a big one."   The world''s fisheries are in crisis. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 90 per cent of them have collapsed and China is the major player in their demise.   By a long way, China has the world''s biggest deep sea fishing fleet that strip mines the world''s oceans.   The Chinese government heavily subsidises the fleet in an attempt to satisfy the country''s insatiable appetite for seafood, which accounts for a third of world consumption.   In the port city of Zhoushan on China''s east coast, 500 trawlers raced out to sea on the first day of the season.   Every season is harder than the last. The fleet have to head deeper into the ocean and stay for longer for a decent catch. The seas around China have virtually no fish left but the commercial fishing fleet is still huge.   With an estimated 200,000 boats, it accounts for nearly half of the world''s fishing activity.   A dozen trawlers returned to Zhoushan with their first catch of the season — crab. The hauls were good but well under half of previous years.   These days the smaller trawlers and boats mostly catch "trash fish" — tiny fish with little value, used as feed for animals and in aqua farms.   Like most others in Zhoushan, the only thing keeping Captain Lin and his crew afloat are government subsidies.   "The diesel fuel and fixing the boat would cost me 200,000 yuan ($40,000). The government subsidises me more than 100,000 yuan ($20,000)," Captain Lin said.   The Chinese government has given $28 billion in subsidies over the last four years to its fishing fleet.   Subsidies might keep people in jobs, but overfishing is threatening the entire ecosystem.   Wang Dong, captain of a small trawler, said China''s 2,600 super trawlers make it almost impossible to survive.   "The stock of fish is definitely less, the fishnets they have kill everything," Captain Wang said. "The mega trawlers have bigger engines, so when they pass there''s hardly any fish left — big or small."   The government says it is taking action, at least with the smaller fleets it can control closer to home.   Li Wenlong is the general manager of Zhoushan Fishery company and in charge of safety and regulation of the Zhoushan fleet.   "Now we are taking three steps; extending the period of fishing bans, releasing more baby fish and starting to reduce the number of boats to reduce production," Mr Li said.   But Chinese authorities acknowledge on the high seas their super trawlers are difficult to police.   On paper there are tough new laws and punishments but often the super trawlers under-report or do not record their catches. Many experts say it is too little too late to save the world''s fish stocks.   Zhou Wei is the ocean project manager at Greenpeace East Asia.   "We are at crisis point, the world fish stocks are depleted," Ms Zhou said. "We''ve lost two-thirds of the large predator fish. Ninety per cent of the world''s fish stocks have being fully exploited or are overexploited. "Our fleets continue to use destructive methods which destroy domestic fisheries."   China''s super trawlers are targeting the seas in North West Pacific, South America and Western Africa.   Not only are they destroying fish stocks, but they are also wiping out poorer subsistent communities.   Greenpeace East Asia has recently done a study of the super trawler''s impact in Western Africa.   "In Western Africa, seven million people rely on fish for income and employment, many more rely on fish for food and animal protein," Ms Zhou said. "To the local people it''s their livelihood but to the industrial fishing fleets it''s a business."   Demand is driving the crisis. China''s rising wealth means seafood, once considered a delicacy, is now widely consumed.   There is little awareness of sustainability in China''s public and conservationists say education campaigns are desperately needed.   Many experts fear if China and other countries do not change their fishing models, there will be very little left for the next generation.   http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/ http://globalvoices.org/2018/10/31/madagascar-citizens-demand-transparency-in-a-fishy-deal-with-china/
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