A/HRC/29/46/Add.1 41. With poor communication skills in Korean and the inability to improve their language skills owing to their long working hours and the geographical isolation from urban areas and the prejudice and disrespect shown towards workers in the agriculture and livestock industries, migrant workers in these sectors are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination. Moreover, with no labour union on their side, they face threats of dismissal and expulsion if they challenge their employer. C. Foreign seafarers on the high seas 42. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the number of migrant workers on fishing vessels registered in the Republic of Korea has been rapidly increasing and that the country’s fishing industry is now much more dependent on migrant workers than any other industry. According to government statistics, as of December 2013, about 70 per cent of seafarers in deep-sea fishing vessels and 28 per cent of seafarers in offshore fishing vessels were foreign workers. 43. In meetings in Busan, foreign seafarers informed the Special Rapporteur of their difficult working conditions on board the fishing vessels. Foreign seafarers are often assigned the most difficult tasks and paid less than their counterparts from the Republic of Korea. In addition, they are not entitled to a share of the catch, which is a requisite for seafarers from the Republic of Korea. While the wage of seafarers from the Republic of Korea is composed of a monthly fixed wage and a share of the catch, which is usually worth much more than the wage, foreign seafarers are paid only a monthly minimum wage without any share of their catch. Since the minimum wage is determined per month regardless of their working hours, foreign seafarers receive only that fixed minimum wage, even though they work 24 hours a day. 44. Although seafarers are entitled to a minimum wage under the Seafarers Act, which states that the minimum wage for seafarers should be determined by a collective agreement between the federation of seafarers’ unions and the federation of vessel owners’ associations, those unions do not accept foreign seafarers as members, although they are still authorized to represent them in collective bargaining. The Special Rapporteur was informed that, on average, seafarers from the Republic of Korea were paid three times more than their foreign counterparts. In addition, foreign seafarers working on vessels registered in the Republic of Korea are not regulated by the Labour Standards Acts, nor are they covered under the rules of EPS. Once fishing vessels carrying foreign seafarers set sail, they stay on the high seas for periods of up to one month, which makes it very difficult for those seafarers to report abuse. The Special Rapporteur was informed that no limit is imposed on the number of applications those seafarers could submit to the Immigration Office to change their employer. 45. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur was informed that foreign seafarers are allegedly often subjected to racist and xenophobic verbal and physical abuse by ship owners and captains, as well as by fellow seafarers from the Republic of Korea. However, they are not able to walk off the vessel because their employer usually holds a deposit, such as a large sum of money or a land certificate, as security supplied by their employment agency in their home country. Although the Immigration Act specifically prohibits the withholding of a foreigner’s passport or Alien Registration Card as a means to ensure a contract for his or her employment or the payment of the debt, some vessel owners or management agencies appear to confiscate the passports, identification documents or even bankbooks of foreign seafarers in order to prevent them running away. 46. Finally, foreign seafarers face difficulty in reporting abuse to the maritime police or visiting a local maritime affairs or port owing to the language barrier or the distance of working location. There have been reports that when foreign seafarers have contacted a 11