IYAFA
Aunty Peace (on the right), a fish processor and women’s leader from Elmina, Ghana has spoken vocally on the exclusion of women small-scale fishers from decision-making spaces, access to government grants and subsidies and the impacts of these on the livelihoods of women fishers. Photo: Nessim Stevenson
This page tracks partnerships, as well as research and policy insights arising from deep engagement with human rights during International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 and beyond.
What this page offers:
- the aims of our initiatives for IYAFA;
- opportunities to engage in key events throughout 2022;
- useful resources, that will be constantly updated;
- illustrations of how our partnerships with UN, NGO and research partners evolve;’ and reflections on specific areas that require more research (blue economy, gender, ocean defenders, conservation and bio-cultural diversity, and inclusive law and policy development.
If you wish to collaborate with us or find out more, please contact Senia.Febrica@strath.ac.uk
Explore key dates so far
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MARCH 2023:
IYAFA 2022 Closing events at the FAO in Rome
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December 2022
UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights called attention to blue economy developments that marginalize small-scale fishers
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December 2022
First joint policy brief by FAO and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on small-scale fishers’ human rights
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November 2022:
Launch of the SSF-LEX Database
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July 2022
Human rights of small-scale fishers are discussed at the UN Ocean Conference
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June 2022
For the first time, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights participates (via video-message) to World Oceans Week, to call attention to the human rights of small-scale fishers (in collaboration with the Hub and FAO)
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March 2022
FAO Legal and Policy Toolkit on SSF aims to support the identification of barriers and opportunities to support the implementation of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) in the Context of Food in national laws and policies
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2019
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas recognizes the need for a coherent interpretation and application of existing international human rights standards to a broad range of actors involved in small-scale fishing and related handicrafts
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2018
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal decision (Gongqose case) recognized small-scale fishers’ customary right to fish.
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2015
Among the Sustainable Development Goas, the international community commits to “Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets” (SDG 14b)
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2014
FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (FAO SSF Guidelines) are the only international instrument specially dedicated to small-scale fisheries, making express references to small-scale fishers’ human rights.
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2007
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) recognizes Indigenous peoples’ right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used seas and resources, and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.
Joining efforts to strengthen the protection of small-scale fishers' human rights
The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) represents an opportunity to raise awareness on the human rights of small-scale fishers and fish workers and on the importance of adopting specific national laws, public policies and programs to enable them to operate in a sustainable manner. Particular attention is to be paid to the most vulnerable rural areas, constrained by poor governance and generally low capacity to low capacity to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
The One Ocean Hub, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), are joining efforts to strengthen the recognition and protection of human rights of small-scale fishers and their communities during the IYAFA. This collaboration is meant to:
- advance understanding of the multiple human rights issues facing small-scale fishers, fishworkers and their communities;
- support a more holistic protection of these rights, in order to ensure SDG synergies and co-benefits; and
- connect existing research and action on these issues, with a view to expanding partnerships.
Voices from local fisher people
Whenever there is any invitation to Accra to deliberate on fisheries issues, only the men go. Our views are not important.
Woman fisherworker, Ghana.
Most artisanal fishermen know how that they have to put the fish back in the sea after they have caught it, if it’s of the non-recommended size.
Anonymous fisher, Namibia.
The industrial trawlers are catching the fish which are supposed to be caught by the smaller fishing boats, which is the fish that we smoke. To compete with them, our fishermen resort to using hazardous chemicals to fish. This is causing most of the fish to die. The fish stocks keep depleting year after year. If things don’t change, we will get to a point where there will be no fish left in the sea. This will be a disaster for those of us living on the coast
Aunty Peace, fisherworker, Ghana.
I would say our rights have been violated. We have not been consulted in any of the decisions that the department has made regarding the granting of the rights to small-scale fishers. Also… they don’t take the necessary steps when they introduced us to the fishing rights, for example the permit conditions.
Melissa Pullen, Chair-person of the Small-scale fishers cooperative, Eastern Cape, South Africa,
Engage with us for change
Our researchers and partners have emphasised how crucial it is to bring clarity on the content of the human rights-based approach to small-scale fisheries and build the capacities of fisheries-related communities of practice to protect human rights in their work.
In 2022, we organised these events to discuss how we can join forces to advance the recognition of the human rights of the small-scale fishers worldwide.
June, 2022: High-level event during the UN World Ocean Week. The Hub shared key research insights and supported small-scale fisheries representatives and advocates to voice their human rights concerns. During the 2-hour, virtual high-level event UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, the Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights and other Rapporteurs and other UN representatives explored how their respective mandates can contribute to enhancing the protection of the human rights of small-scale fishers. The event aimed to:
- raise awareness of the need for a holistic approach to the protection of the human rights of small-scale fishers and fishworkers among ocean funders, governments, civil society, researchers, NGOs, business and communities; and
- develop guidance on how to better protect the human rights of small-scale fishers, fishworkers and their communities.
Watch the webinar recording here.
May-September 2022: workshop series: A series of two workshops on ‘Small-scale fishers’ customary law and tangible and intangible heritage within Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments, Marine Protected Areas, and Marine Spatial Planning” explored and reflected on how ocean heritage is defined within these processes and the impact of these processes on the heritage and human rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
- The workshops aimed to advance understanding on the integration of small-scale fishers’ human rights, including in terms of customary laws and tangible/intangible cultural heritage, in Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments, Marine Protected Areas, and Marine Spatial Planning at the national level.
Watch workshop 1 recording here.
Watch workshop 2 recording here.
November 2022: in the run-up to COP27, the Hub co-hosted a panel on small-scale fisheries’ human rights and climate change cooperation mechanisms on November 14, 2022, on the occasion of the UN Climate COP27.
November 2022: launch event of the SSF-LEX database. Hub researchers from Ghana, Namibia and South Africa have contributed to the development and launch of a new international database that keeps track of relevant national law and policy instruments for small-scale fisheries, assessing whether the latter are aligned with the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on SSF. More information available here.
February 2023: Dialogue series on human rights institutions and mechanisms for fishing communities. Together with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Hub organised a dialogue series of two webinars exploring how national human rights institutions and international human rights mechanisms are addressing human rights issues in fishing communities. The series aimed to better understand current engagement of national and international human rights actors to protect the rights of small-scale fishers, fish workers and their communities, and to explore opportunities for deepening their engagement and collaboration with environmental and fisheries actors.
Find more information here. You can watch the two webinars here and here.
29-31st March 2023: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has invited the Hub to contribute to the closing events of the IYAFA 2022 in Rome, building on our intense collaboration on the protection of the human rights of small-scale fishers as a way to achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals together with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Four events have been organised:
- an in-person workshop on art-based approaches to the protection of small-scale fishers’ human rights in South Africa;
- a hybrid training event on human rights and fisheries co-organised with the Danish Institute for Human Rights;
- a hybrid roundtable on World Trade Organisation (WTO) Fisheries Subsidies Agreement and small-scale fishers’ human rights, also co-organised with the DIHR;
- the Empatheatre performance ‘Lalela uLwandle (Listen to the Sea)’ after the official, high-level closing of IYAFA.
Find more information, including registration links, here.
June 2022: UNEP Winter/Summer School on the Environment and Human Rights: A panel on the human rights of small-scale fishers explored the positive outcomes that collaborative and human rights-focused initiatives can bring to various small-scale fishing actors (from small-scale fishers, fishworkers, and their communities to governments and organizations working with them) simultaneously. The panel presented the perspectives of researchers, and of international and regional organizations that have been working closely with human rights initiatives for small-scale fisheries. It provided a discussion to further understand how existing initiatives have contributed to multiple benefits and SDG synergies outlined above. It aimed to:
- Collect evidence and insights of how the recognition, protection and promotion of substantive human rights of small-scale fishers strengthen their capacity to fully realize their fundamental rights and effectively perform all social, economic and environmental aspects of fisheries sustainability; and
- Distil advice on protecting the rights of small-scale artisanal fishers, fishworkers, and their communities in order to contribute to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to the benefit of all/other sectors of society.
89% of small scale fishers and communities in Namibia felt they were not involved in decision making processes and that their cultural practices and beliefs on sea protection were not taken into consideration.
Prof. Alex Kanyimba, Researcher, One Ocean Hub.
The socio-economic value of small-scale fisheries has been largely underestimated and their contribution to national economy undervalued
Johannes Hamukwaya, Deputy Director, Namibia Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources during a One Ocean Hub-led webinar
Relevant resources
Collaboration with our UN partners
The One Ocean Hub and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have made progress on these issues in the past two years by:
- developing a Legal and Policy Diagnostic Tool to conduct an assessment of existing national legal and policy frameworks, with the purpose of identifying misalignments with the SSF Guidelines and with international human rights law. The Diagnostic Tool should be used together with the FAO Legislative Guide that provide guidance on how to align national frameworks with the SSF Guidelines. (see also here and here);
- developing an e-learning course: one addressed to government officials and advocates on legislating on small-scale fisheries in accordance with the ecosystem and human rights-based approach, which was launched in 2022 (see here);
- developing an international database collecting national laws and policy instruments for small-scale fisheries and assessing their alignment with the FAO SSF Guidelines. Find more information on the SSF-LEX database here;
- clarifying the interplay of the SSF Guidelines and the UN Declaration on the Human Rights of Peasants;
- drawing attention to the cultural rights and cultural heritage of small-scale fishers, as well as the challenges in exercising their right to public participation, at World Oceans Week 2021;
- with UNEP, fostering recognition of small-scale fishers as environmental human rights defenders;
- integrating questions and recent findings on the human rights of small-scale fishers in the inaugural UNEP Winter-Summer School on Human Rights and the Environment;
- exploring the challenges in protecting both procedural and substantive human rights of small-scale fishers in the times of COVID, as part of a capacity-building programme for the Nippon Fellowship Alumni Network, which comprises over 200 ocean practitioners from the Global South supported by the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (see also here); and
- Exploring the human rights-based approach in the context of the implementation and monitoring of the SSF Guidelines.
The UNOHCHR has co-developed with the Hub and FAO a joint programme of work to advance understanding of the multiple threats to the rights of small-scale fishers to have a voice in decisions affecting their lives, health, culture and livelihoods, and garner further support for small-scale fishers that act as environmental human rights defenders. In addition, the collaboration will explore good practices in ensuring the direct participation of small-scale fishers in engagements at different levels.
UNEP: The One Ocean Hub and UNEP are co-developing on a variety of e-learning tools on human rights and SDG 14, as well as on ocean defenders as environmental human rights defenders. In 2021, the One Ocean Hub brought together FAO and UNEP and small-scale fishers’ representatives from Ghana and South Africa to discuss the human rights dimensions of small-scale fisheries and their contributions to ocean well-being and sustainable livelihoods at World Oceans Week.
With UNDOALOS we are working with UN-Nippon Fellows and Alumni for mutual capacity building between government officials, representatives of civil society, and researchers in understanding opportunities and challenges to achieve sustainable development in small-scale fisheries. In addition, the One Ocean Hub is part of the ‘Friends of United Nations World Oceans Day’ and has contributed to the virtual components of these worldwide celebrations since 2020.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment, Dr David Boyd, is passionate in advocating sustainable environment as a human right, together we are collaborating to highlight that protection of small-scale fishers rights helps to protect the environment.
The work of UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki, stresses the fundamental role of cultural rights for the respect of human dignity, we are collaborating to highlight the contribution of small-scale fishers to sustainable development, while also preserving a diversity of knowledge and ways of life.
Collaboration with our NGO partners:
With Blue Ventures we are collaborating to identify international support needed to ensure synergistic implementation of the FAO Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.
With Too Big to Ignore we are developing awareness raising materials to highlight the barriers and injustices faced by small-scale fishers and opportunities for States and non-state actors to advance small-scale fishers’ human rights.
WWF is passionate about addressing increasing threats and challenges to small-scale fishers by the “Blue Economy” agendas which frame the ocean as the new economic frontier, together we work to draw attention to implications of the blue economy for fishers, and to support the role of fishers in conservation and sustainable use of the ocean.
The Danish Institute for Human Rights shares the Hub’s passion to protect and provide access for small-scale fishers to marine resources and markets. Together we collaborate to highlight the essential need for a human rights-based approach, which ensures participation, accountability and non-discrimination, to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development).
The IUCN “People and the Ocean” specialist group shares with the Hub a common concern on the lack of recognition for small-scale fishers as environmental human rights defenders. We are exploring together the need to build the capacity of ocean practitioners to contribute to the protection of human rights in their work.
The Hub has collaborated with the Global Network of Human Rights and the Environment since 2021, with a view to raising awareness about the ocean-human rights nexus and the need for environmental and human rights lawyers to engage in ocean governance. After contributing to the inaugural Winter/Summer School, the Hub co-developed with the Network the call for the 2022 Winter/Summer School that was entirely focused on the water cycle and the ocean.
Hub’s research on small-scale fishers
Blue economy
Participation of small-scale fishers in the blue economic sector is poorly defined and managed. This results in injustices, such as lack of access to resources and economic opportunities and impacts livelihoods and increases vulnerability to change. The One Ocean Hub is working with small-scale fishers in three African countries; Ghana, Namibia and South Africa In South Africa, through arts-based methodologies (empatheatre) our research has highlighted that current economic discourse and processes are exclusionary and often results in illegal behaviour and rising conflicts in ocean and coastal governance processes.
In addition, we have found that the recreational fishing sector is generating significantly towards state income, yet this is not filtering through to the most vulnerable. We continue to work in South Africa with the Coastal Justice Network to support small-scale fishers to meaningfully engage with the ocean’s economy plans and tackle environmental and social issues more inclusively – defending their rights to a healthy future. In Ghana, cultural attachment, and the role of women in the artisanal fishery sector has been highlighted.
Work so far has shown that intangible and tangible heritage is revealed in stories and art painted on traditional canoes, with continued work in progress to improve the legal instruments, training and capacity building across scales. Research is beginning in Namibia to explore both artisanal and recreational fisheries and their contributions and access to equitable blue economies.
Gender
Women play a critical role along the entire economic value chain in small-scale fisheries, but their voice is often not heard. Women have limited access to resources and influence on the decision-making processes. There is an urgent need to respect and recognise the human rights of woman artisanal fishers. Our research has shown that unless access to resources, better working conditions and a voice at the decision-making table is provided, they will continually be exposed to human rights injustices and disempowered.
Hub researchers at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana have undertaken legal and sociological research on the role and challenges of women in small-scale fisheries and have joined forces with various partners to connect efforts in this area. A study conducted by the Hub’s NGO partner, Hɛn Mpoano (“Our Coast”), revealed that women are poorly organized and lacked fisheries-related assets or access to credit, which contribute to their limited voice in ocean decision-making. The lack of access to savings and micro credit, by small-scale fishers, according to Hen Mpoano, reduces their opportunity to switch to other livelihood opportunities during the lean fishing seasons and might indirectly contribute to the use of unsustainable fishing practices.
Similarly, the Hub researchers of the Environmental Research Centre at the University of Rhodes in South Africa is supporting groups of coastal fisherwomen who are drawn from small scale fishing cooperatives in Gqeberha and Hamburg. The women approached the Hub researchers and shared the challenges they face in the fishing sector (more so with Covid 91 lockdowns and restrictions) and a wish to diversify or supplement their livelihoods through sewing and gardening. The Hub researchers through its partners managed to source funds and purchased the start-up materials which involved sewing machines and materials. In addition, the hub researchers have partnered with other stakeholders to provide skills training and access to markets, scheduled for early April 2022.
Ocean defenders
“Environmental human rights defenders” are defined by the United Nations as individuals and communities that raise awareness about the negative impacts on human rights of unsustainable decisions on the environment, who are increasingly the object of (often lethal) attacks by governments or private companies. They thus exemplify a double flaw of national governments: they do not effectively protect or ensure sustainable use of the environment to the detriment of human rights, and they persecute or allow persecution of those that raise awareness about these problems.
The Hub shared some of these research findings and innovative methodologies for collaborating and supporting small-scale fishers in the context of a UN Global and African consultations on environmental human rights defenders in 2021. This contributed to the recognition of small-scale fishers , indigenous peoples and local communities negatively affected by blue economy initiatives as environmental human rights defenders. This revealed a blind spot in current international initiatives that are land-focused and ignore “ocean defenders.” Hub research was integrated into recommendations to the UN System to better coordinate efforts and fill gaps in supporting ocean defenders (to be published in 2022). Findings and approaches to enhancing participation and inclusion of small-scale fishers from South Africa (notably the Coastal Justice Network approaches) are being considered among good practices to be documented by UNEP.
Conservation and biocultural diversity
Biodiversity and culture are inextricably linked. Often conservation decisions are made excluding people and the cultural connections with the ocean space. Current and continued research is showing there is deep connection between SSF communities and not only the coastal environment but also with the deep-sea. This co-produced knowledge using different research methodologies can help inform and reform current conservation management practices, to not only protect biodiversity but also culturally significant areas in marine protected areas.
In addition, the Hub is developing pathways to protect procedural rights of SFF towards consultation and participation in the decision-making processes, for example in integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning. Our research is informing international and regional approaches to marine spatial planning with a view to ensuring that SSFs’ human rights are fully integrated in decisions on access and uses of the marine environment.
Inclusive law and policy development / participation
Inclusive law and policy development (guided by the 2018 UN Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment) is essential to support more integrated and equitable decisions on the ocean, to the benefit of the most marginalized communities, such as small-scale fishers. To that end, it is necessary to bring together expertise from the law, arts, history, sociology, anthropology, politics, and different marine sciences to iteratively co-develop inclusive law and policy with research with partners at local, national, regional, and international levels. This inter- and transdisciplinary approach supports authorities in achieving policy coherence and co-benefits, while enabling marginalized actors to voice their demands as legal entitlements.
The Hub’s research and engagement activities on customary law and cultural heritage in Ghana, South Africa, and Namibia are facilitating access for community leaders, small-scale fisheries authorities, and women to decision-making process, and establishing knowledge action networks to strengthen partnerships between researchers, NGOs and communities to effectively participate in ocean-related processes.
Fishers' Tales
These photos are part of the Fishers’ Tales project, which is is an arts-based storytelling project that collects the wondrous tales that fishers enjoy telling about their ocean adventures. Fishers Tales was supported by the Hub’s DEEP Fund – a programme of work dedicated to advocating and advancing community-based arts research.
Additional Resources
COVID-19 impacts on the South African Small-Scale Fisheries Sector
Namibia’s Experience on Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Small-Scale Fisheries (Day 1)
Namibia’s Experience on Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Small-Scale Fisheries (Day 2)
2021 Summer/Winter School: Environmental defenders in times of pandemic
