‘Seafood from Slaves’: The Pulitzer Prize in the Light of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12495 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
‘Seafood from Slaves’: The Pulitzer Prize in the
Light of the UN Guiding Principles on Business
and Human Rights
Angelica Bonfanti
University of Milan
Marta Bordignon
Human Rights International Corner (HRIC)
Abstract
The present paper aims at analysing the case ‘Seafood from Slaves’–first published in March 2015 by The Associated Press
(AP) –in light of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (hereinafter UNGPs), focusing on both the State
duty to protect human rights (HR) and the corporate responsibility to respect HR. As regards the former aspect, the main
domestic legal instruments recently adopted and the reaction of the international community to this case will be analysed. As
regards the second aspect, according to the UNGPs, corporations have the responsibility to respect human rights throughout
their operations and their value chains. Some lawsuits involving seafood suppliers especially in the US and UK will be consid-
ered, as well as the main actions carried out by all the relevant stakeholders, in order to comply with the UNGPs and the
national provisions on a transparent and sustainable supply chain. Having focused on the most critical issues, the authors aim
at assessing whether the measures taken by the involved corporations and States are either adequate or insufficient to grant
consistency with the principles enshrined in the UNGPs. In this latter case the authors will submit suggestions and
recommendations.
Policy Implications
•Forced labour and human trafficking in fishery industries: adequate legislation prohibiting forced labour and human traf-
ficking must be adopted by Thailand and carefully implemented; fishery industries must be monitored and sanctioned in
case of lack of compliance.
•Business and human rights: it is strongly recommended that Thailand and fishery industries implement properly the inter-
national legal framework on business and human rights.
1. ‘Seafood from Slaves’: the AP contribution to
unveil gross violations of human and labour rights
First published in March 2015 by The Associated Press (AP),
the ‘Seafood from Slaves’story refers to more than 2,000
slaves from South-East Asia forced to catch or process sea-
food that through the supply chains of almost every major
American food retailer arrives on dinner tables, restaurants
and markets worldwide. States, such as Thailand, and corpo-
rations –such as the Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF) and
some US food stores and retailers (among others Nestle,
Wal-Mart, Costco, Whole Foods, Dollar General and Petco) –
are explicitly involved. The AP investigative report has been
awarded with the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service, also
receiving great support from non-profit and international
organizations, as well as from people across mainstream,
social media and some local trade unions, that reacted by
organizing collective strikes and protests and asking for a
reform of national labour laws. The complete report is avail-
able on the AP website (Associated Press, 2016), together
with all the most recent information related to the topic of
forced labour in seafood industry.
2. ‘Seafood from Slaves’in light of the UNGPs
The present paper aims at analysing the ‘Seafood from
Slaves’case in light of the UN Guiding on Business and
Human Rights (hereinafter UNGPs) (OHCHR, 2011), focusing
on both the State duty to protect human rights (HR) and
the corporate responsibility to respect HR. On one side,
regarding States’commitment to addressing forced labour
in seafood supply chain, the reaction of the international
community to ‘Seafood from Slaves’and Thailand’s recent
legislative reforms will be analysed. On the other side, some
lawsuits involving seafood suppliers especially in the US and
UK will be considered, as well as the main actions carried
©2017 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Global Policy (2017) 8:4 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12495
Global Policy Volume 8 . Issue 4 . November 2017
498
Special Section Article
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