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6 Dec 2019

Thailand: Forced labour & exploitation in seafood industry persist as result of buyers' business model, research reveals

In December 2019, Freedom Fund and Humanity United released 'Tracking Progress: Assessing Business Responses to Forced Labour and Human Trafficking in the Thai Seafood Industry', which examines how the seafood sector has addressed the issues of forced labour in Thailand.

The assessment - which has a particular focus on the private sector and the Seafood Task Force -  highlights that although forced labour and the exploitation of workers is being discussed and starting to be addressed in certain ways, the underlying business model that enables and incentivises worker exploitation has not changed. 

Amongst its key findings is the need for buyer companies, such as US and EU supermarkets and retailers, to change their purchasing practices to support supplier efforts to end forced labor, and shift away from sourcing decisions that are driven primarily by the lowest price.