"EJF POSITION ON THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN GERMANY", 10 September 2018

Germany is preparing new guidelines for companies to improve due diligence systems to avoid human rights abuses in their international supply chains. The National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights (NAP) [...] requests companies to examine their human rights policies and standards by 2020... Success, however, depends on the active commitment of companies, and the recognition of the particular risks in the global seafood industry. If assessed and implemented effectively, the NAP would allow Germany to use its significant market influence to stamp out human rights abuses in the fisheries industry worldwide. This position [...] explains the need for particular attention to be paid to seafood imports...

The opaque nature of the global seafood industry presents particular challenges that require collaboration between States and industry to address. However, the NAP does not yet specify or define what sectors, markets, commodities or countries of origin have high risks of being connected to human rights abuses...

Companies involved in global seafood supply chains should be given a clear policy framework in which they will be supported to develop their own standards to avoid human rights abuses.