Blog: Seafood

International Buyers Must Prevent Thailand Backtracking on Convention

October 11, 2018

Many people around the world have been horrified by reports of human rights abuses in the seafood industry. A 2014 article in the Guardian sounded alarm bells that all seafood purchasers large and small should answer. But the issue of slavery in the seafood supply chain is larger and more complex than consumers or even companies can tackle alone.

Worker Voice Without Worker Agency Fails Seafood Workers

May 4, 2018

“Worker voice” is the current buzzword among corporate social responsibility professionals seeking to end labor exploitation in the seafood industry, yet the original meaning of worker voice – in which workers form associations to collectively bargain for better conditions on an equal footing with employers – is nowhere to be found.

Respect, not restraints, for workers in Thailand's seafood industry

April 1, 2015
Migrant worker held captive

Workers in cages – that’s what reporters from the Associated Press found during a year-long investigation into forced labor in the global seafood supply chain. The workers were Burmese nationals, trafficked onto Thai-run fishing vessels working for an Indonesian firm in Indonesian waters, underlining the complex, global nature of the problem.

Justice for the Earth and all its workers

September 21, 2014
Cambodian trafficking victims return home

Today, hundreds of thousands of people are marching across the globe in a historic effort to demand action on climate change. The People's Climate March is a challenge to the world's leaders to focus on developing policies that will establish a more sustainable world. At ILRF, we work closely with environmental groups to include labor rights as part of the sustainability agenda.

How Companies Can Address Human Trafficking in Thai Seafood Industry

June 18, 2014
Thai boat workers

Last week, the Guardian reported that Thai exporter CP Foods purchases fish meal for its shrimp stock made with fish caught by human trafficking victims aboard Thai fishing vessels. The fishermen reported brutal physical violence, even murder, regularly occurring on boats.

Burmese workers in Thailand organize, negotiate and win!

January 20, 2014

Protestors shutting down Bangkok to force the current government from power have grabbed international headlines this week. Meanwhile, efforts for a quieter revolution to improve the power dynamic between millions of migrant workers and their Thai employers took a significant step forward an hour south of Bangkok in Samut Sakhorn, one of the primary seafood processing areas in Thailand.

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