Indonesia Frees 300 Men Found Enslaved on Island

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/world/asia/indonesia-frees-300-men-found-enslaved-on-island.html

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TUAL, Indonesia — More than 300 migrant fishermen who had been enslaved on trawlers for years rode those same vessels to freedom on Saturday after a daring rescue from a remote Indonesian island where they had lived in fear of being beaten or killed by their captors.

After 17 hours overnight at sea, the men, mostly from Myanmar, filed off the boats and walked to the site of their new temporary home where they were finally safe.

The men from Myanmar, along with others from Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, were among hundreds of migrant workers who had been lured or tricked into getting on boats bound for Indonesia, according to an Associated Press investigation.

After they arrived on the Indonesian islands, they were forced by trawler captains to catch seafood that was shipped back to Thailand and exported to buyers around the world, including the United States.

“I’m so happy, I wanted to go home for so long,” said one of the men, Aung Aung, 26, who lifted his hair on the left side of his head to show a jagged scar stretching from his lip to the back of his neck — the result of a machete attack by his captain’s son.

In response to The A.P.’s findings, an Indonesian delegation visited the island village of Benjina on Friday and offered to immediately evacuate the migrants after finding brutal conditions, including an “enforcer” who was paid to beat men up.

The officials from the Fisheries Ministry offered the men a chance to leave, fearing they would not be safe if they stayed on the island after speaking out about the horrendous labor abuses they endured.

About 320 men took up the offer. After arriving on the island of Tual on Saturday afternoon, they were given traditional packets of Indonesian rice wrapped in paper. Those who were sick or injured were offered medical care by paramedics inside ambulances.

Officials from Myanmar plan to visit the islands in the coming days and will assist with taking the men home and locating others who are still trapped.

Benjina is in the far reaches of Indonesia and so remote that there was no phone service until a cell tower was installed last month, and it is a difficult place to reach in the best of circumstances.

The International Organization for Migration has said there could be as many as 4,000 foreign men, many trafficked or enslaved, who are stranded on islands surrounding Benjina following a fishing moratorium called by the Indonesian Fisheries Ministry to crack down on poaching.