08/09

In August 2009, I visited 16 out of the 22 families of the Morecambe Bay victims in Fujian. They are so grateful to the British public for their kind donation which has helped them overcome many difficulties in the past few years. They don't know how to express their thankfulness enough to Sir David Tang, who so generously helped them early this year.

With the donation, most children have managed to continue their high school education. The majority of the families have paid off a third of their total debts. They have also used the donation to pay for their living expenses. This leaves each family with a debt of 133,000 RMB (13,300 pounds) to pay off. For the 22 families, we will need 232,600 pounds in total, to clear all the debts completely. As I witnessed in Fujian, the debts are a depressingly heavy burden on the children themselves, who must inherit the debts from their parents who drowned cockle-picking in Britain. The debts are now stopping some of them from making the decision to further their education. A number of children told that they wouldn't want to go to the university because they can't afford it - as paying off the debts is their priority. The huge debts are stopping the children of the families to move forward, to plan their future and lead a normal life. These families and their children will have no future in front of them if the debts are not cleared.

23 Chinese migrant workers were drowned at Morecambe Bay on 5 February 2004, picking cockles. When they were cut off by the incoming tide in the bay at night. Workers made calls to emergency services for help, but partly because of the language barrier, the rescue arrived late and only one of the workers was rescued from the waters.

A total of 21 bodies of men and women between the ages of 18 and 45, were recovered from the bay in the days that followed. Two were never found. In total, 15 cocklers survived. The workers were all undocumented. 22 out of the 23 deceased were from Fujian province of China. One was from Shandong province in the north of China.

Award-winning filmmaker Nick Broomfield made the film Ghosts based on Hsiao-Hung Pai's undercover reports about life of undocumented workers published in the Guardian. At the launch of the film, the Morecambe Bay Victims Fund was established, aiming to raise money to help the families of the Morecambe Bay victims in Fujian.

The 22 families' Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority applications were rejected in December 2008. Their hope of being able to pay off the debts (£15,000 on average per family) and afford education for their children was dashed.

Since December, a committee has been set up focusing on raising money for the children's education. Its members are Jabez Lam, Sonny Leong, Merlene Emerson, Hratche Koundarjian, Alice Lee, Joy Lam, Helen Yang, and Rebecca King Lassman.

7/2/09

The Fund commemorated the 5th anniversary of the Morecambe Bay tragedy at the Electric Cinema, Portobello Road, London. The aim of the event was to remember the 23 Chinese workers who drowned at Morecambe Bay and to raise £36,000 to support education costs of the victims' children. It was also to remember the reasons why migrant workers died working in Britain.

The evening was hosted by Sir David Tang who sponsored the event. An edited version of Nick Broomfield's film Ghosts was screened. A total of £62,000 was raised.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a message to the commemoration: "...Those 23 deaths and those of 58 Chinese people at Dover in June 2000 show the awful human cost of unregulated working, illegal migration and human trafficking...We have implemented the Gangmasters Licensing Act and will do whatever it takes to stamp out human trafficking...The Government and colleagues in the trade union movement are committed to ensuring that vulnerable workers are aware of their employment rights and have the confidence and resources to report abuses."

The Fund challenges Prime Minister's statement. We believe that the Morecambe Bay tragedy was caused by the absence of labour protection and by Britain's immigration policies that only works on the side of big businesses.

In the five years following the Morecambe Bay tragedy, the same conditions that led to workers' deaths have continued to be the common day-to-day experience of tens of thousands of undocumented migrant workers in Britain. Migrant workers are still subjected to extreme exploitation in the underground world of recruitment. The Gangmasters Licensing Act, the only piece of legislation that came out of the tragedy, has offered insufficient protection to migrant workers. Undocumented migrant workers remain out of reach - thus totally unprotected.

To avoid the same tragedy from happening again, we call for the government to put its words into practice and protect vulnerable workers. We call for undocumented migrant workers to be given the opportunity to live and work in the open.

1/2/09

Sir David Tang has generously sponsored a fundraising event on the fifth anniversary of the Morecambe Bay tragedy on 5 February 2009. The Fund is aiming to raise £36,000 to cover the education costs of all the Morecambe victims' children for ten years.

We organise this event to commemorate the tragedy. We also use this occasion to celebrate the courage of migrant workers seeking to improve the lives for their families and to remember the sacrifices they have made. Unfortunately for the Morecambe Bay victims, they paid the ultimate price of sacrificing their lives.