We call on Tesco to immediately cease purchasing of seafood from Thailand until they can conclusively and transparently demonstrate that their supply chains are free from slavery.
Following a number of recent reports into slavery in the Thai seafood industry, including a recent Guardian exposé and investigations from the Environmental Justice Foundation, it has become clear the seafood sourced from Thailand is highly likely to be tainted with slavery.
As consumers, we want to know that the seafood we buy has not been produced by slaves.
Dear Friends,
Migrant workers are being enslaved in grim and violent conditions to produce many of the prawns on our supermarket shelves. But just as people across Britain rallied to ban the slave trade 200 years ago, we can get our biggest retailer to crack down on these abuses
Recent investigations by the Environmental Justice Foundation and The Guardian have shown serious human rights abuses including trafficking, slavery and murder in the Thai seafood industry. One migrant fisher saw a fellow crew member being murdered, reporting: “The other captains came and pinned him down. They tied his hands and legs to four boats, and they pulled him apart."
Thailand is a major supplier of prawns to the UK, and Tesco is one of the biggest companies that buys from a massive Thai company linked to this slavery. Tesco’s Annual General Meeting is tomorrow, and if enough of us call on them now, they can lead the way to stop the seafood slavery. They say they use their scale for good and that meeting customer needs is a priority. So let’s ask them to stop buying Thai prawns until they’ve finished rigorous, independent audits of their full supply chain.
We have to move fast, while this news story is fresh. Click below to sign now, then share this with everyone, so we can make it massive before we deliver it to Tesco’s CEO Philip Clarke in front of their shareholders and the watching media at their big meeting.
>> www.avaaz.org/en/
With hope and determination,
Loup Dargent
On behalf of Lisa, Alex, Ari, Moj, Luis and the whole Avaaz team - with the Environmental Justice Foundation
MORE INFORMATION
Sold to the sea: Human Trafficking in Thailand's Fishing Industry (Environmental Justice Foundation)
Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns (The Guardian)