Suva, Fiji (17 February, 2020) – A training workshop to raise awareness of the obstacles women and men face in the commercial fishing industry, the impact of foreign offshore fishing operations on Pacific people’s lives and the impact on human rights was recently held in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Organised by the Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) programme, in partnership with the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and funded by the European Union (EU) and the Government of Sweden, the workshop also aimed to enhance the capacity of the FFA and its partner organisations by providing them with the tools to plan, design and implement their activities in the oceanic fisheries sector using a gender-sensitive lens.
Delwyn Amoe, who works for National Fisheries Development in the Solomon Islands, spoke about what she had learned from the gender and human rights training saying, “I thought that I knew about human rights and gender equality, but attending this training showed me that I still have a lot more to learn and I’m so excited about this. I am going to take back a lot of what I’ve learned from discussions and case studies. One thing that stands out for me is that while I’ve been trying to develop and implement gender equality, I should be promoting equity first and this is something that I am going to be working on.”
Chelcia Gomese, a Senior Research Analyst and the Gender Focal Point for Coastal Fisheries at Worldfish in the Solomon Islands also shared her experience of the workshop saying, “I was very happy to be a part of the training as a gender person in the field of coastal fisheries. It’s very important that we recognise the role of women in fisheries. The gender and human rights workshop enabled me to better understand roles and to make sure that gender is incorporated in all pathways of the work that we do.”
The workshop also discussed indirect gender specific risks for women and men, vulnerable groups and coastal communities in the context of oceanic fisheries operations and the influx of foreign labour. Human rights violations in the oceanic fishers sector in the Pacific were highlighted through case studies. (ENDS)
Media contacts
1. Debbie Singh, Communications Officer, Pacific-EU Marine Partnership (PEUMP) programme, Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji. Email | [email protected]