This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.The world’s top canned tuna firms are making “glacial progress” combatting modern slavery in their supply chains, an advocacy group said on Tuesday, warning that the coronavirus pandemic had left fishers in Asia-Pacific more vulnerable to exploitation.
“The global fishing sector is rife with allegations of abuse – human trafficking, debt bondage ... and even murder,” BHRRC’s Pacific representative Amy Sinclair told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased demand for tuna, as consumers worldwide have stocked-up on the pantry staple, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
BHRRC said only one company – U.S. supermarket chain Kroger Co – disclosed forced labour in its supply chain, suggesting the others either do not have adequate practices in place to weed it out, or are not disclosing it when found.