Major corporate suppliers of canned tuna from the Pacific to European supermarkets are too lax on human rights policies, according to a study conducted by Deloitte.
The research, released by the European tuna fleet -- headed by Spain's Organizacion de Productores de Atun Congelado (OPAGAC) -- found only half of 35 surveyed companies had no defined processes for taking action regarding human rights, and only 17% had complaint mechanisms for their employees.
"The major corporate suppliers of western Pacific-fished canned tuna for European supermarkets are especially lax in watching out for and prosecuting violations of workers’ human rights in their tuna production chain, and their processes include no mechanisms of any kind for identifying modern slavery onboard tuna vessels, even though such practices are becoming more and more frequent, especially in Asian fleets," claimed OPAGAC.
The study found that only 11% of major canned tuna marketing groups -- mainly from the US, Australia, Thailand, Canada, and the Philippines -- have internal policies and monitoring procedures to detect the risk of slavery.
"In the case of fishery products...big food distributors are focusing more on environmental and biological sustainability than the kind of sustainability that involves human rights and working conditions, " said OPAGAC. "This would explain why some major European chains are certifying the sustainability of their fishery products with various seals, but none of them are making it mandatory to have observers on board to verify certified fishing activities."
August 06, 2020 at 03:22PM
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Study finds Pacific suppliers of canned tuna too lax on slavery policies - Undercurrent News
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