High seas crime, too big to police and with no clear authority
Two-thirds of the planet is covered by water and much of that space is ungoverned. Human rights, labour and environmental crimes occur often and with impunity because the oceans are vast. What laws exist are difficult to enforce.
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The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organisation based in Washington, D.C., focuses on reporting about environmental and human rights crimes at sea. | The Outlaw Ocean Project
About 100 miles off the coast of Thailand, three dozen Cambodian boys and men worked barefoot all day and into the night on the deck of a purse seiner fishing ship. Fifteen-foot swells climbed the sides of the vessel, clipping the crew below the knees. Ocean spray and fish innards made the floor skating-rink slippery.