Publications

Joint Civil Society Statement concerning Ratification of the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188)

Publication Date: 

August 17, 2018

Fishing workers, through the very nature of their work, are especially vulnerable to human trafficking as well as forced, bonded and slave labour, operating as they do in isolated and hazardous conditions. To protect this vulnerable group, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has established basic standards of decent work in the fishing industry.

Taking Stock: Labor Exploitation, Illegal Fishing and Brand Responsibility in the Seafood Industry

Publication Date: 

May 11, 2018

ILRF launched the Independent Monitoring at Sea (IM@Sea) project to address some of the vulnerabilities of migrant workers in the Thai fishing fleet by enabling worker connectivity while at sea, improving forced labor risk assessments, and developing a worker-driven grievance mechanism. The project set out to better inform government industry leaders, and civil society on actions needed: utilizing technology platforms to systematically collect, analyze and report on work at sea and connecting workers to worker organizations to implement such systems and remediate abuses identified.

Comments to the Marine Stewardship Council regarding proposed labor requirements

Publication Date: 

April 15, 2018

We submit the following comments to Marine Stewardship Council's consultation on labor requirements for fisheries and supply chains on behalf of the Thai Seafood Working Group. The Seafood Working Group is a coalition of nearly 60 environmental, human rights and labor organizations from about a dozen countries dedicated to the eradication of all forms of worker exploitation, including human trafficking and forced labor, in the seafood trade, particularly in Thailand.

Certifying Exploitation: “Sustainable” Palm Oil Is Failing Workers

Publication Date: 

April 5, 2018

In August of 2016, Amnesty International released a detailed report exposing egregious labor violations—including forced labor, child labor, exposure to toxic pesticides, and failure to pay minimum wages—on plantations owned by palm oil giant Wilmar, a supplier to major global brands, including Unilever, ColgatePalmolive, Kellogg’s, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble. Incredibly, three of the five plantations where the abuses were documented were certified as “sustainable” palm oil producers by the industry certification scheme, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan: A Workers’ Organization Or Instrument to Control Workers?

Publication Date: 

November 28, 2017

For decades, International human rights groups, the United Nations, including the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO), have gravely condemned Uzbekistan for its use of state-orchestrated child and forced labor particularly in—but by no means limited to—Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. Nevertheless, though each year independent monitors report a growing number of adults forcibly recruited to work as cotton pickers, and though other forced adult labor flourishes throughout Uzbekistan (e.g.

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