Abstract
This paper adopts a human security centred framework to critically examine current prevention, protection and justice (prosecution) responses (the ‘3-Ps’ framework) to the emerging blue security concern of human trafficking at sea. The paper focuses primarily on how these responses intersect with the situation of migrant fishing crews from Southeast Asia, as these individuals have been identified as some of the most vulnerable to extreme human and labour rights abuses in the distant water fishing (DWF) sector in the Asia-Pacific region. The paper draws selectively on an ongoing study of migrant fishers from Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia, including empirical data from interviews with returned fishers, their family members and key stakeholder informants from governmental, international and non-governmental organisations respectively.
In evaluating the effectiveness of these responses, a two-fold argument is advanced in the paper: first, a knowledge gap between state and institutional responses to the problem of trafficking at sea persists, with many responses lacking a sufficiently robust evidence base; and second, responses appear siloed, demonstrating little insight into the ways prevention, protection and justice are interconnected domains of policy and action. In taking this last argument further, it is suggested that a framework for responding to this human and labour rights crisis should embrace a normative, goal-oriented mandate based on resilience, rights and remedy. This could help overcome some of the limitations of the process-oriented ‘3-Ps’ framework based on prevention, protection and prosecution.
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