Carrefour response to Uyghur forced labour & migrant worker abuse in seafood supply chains
Response from Carrefour to the Ocean Outlaw Project investigation into Uyghur forced labour and migrant abuse in seafood supply chains:
... To ensure compliance with its commitments, Carrefour is putting tools and procedures in place to monitor and support its suppliers. In accordance with Carrefour’s procurement rules, all supply plants located in high-risk or at-risk countries must undergo a social audit...
The audit is not an end in itself but rather, a tool that paves the way for dialogue and the implementation of a compliance plan to bring the supplier’s working conditions in line with requirements...
The European Union's regulation to end illegal, unreported, and unregulated (INN) fishing requires “third-party countries” (those outside the European Union) exporting fish to the EU or lending their flags to vessels that import into the EU to comply with strict fishery management standards. If these standards are not met, countries can be “carded”, which means that they could eventually be excluded from the EU market. In order to combat illegal practices, Carrefour prohibits the use of boats belonging to countries which have received yellow or red cards from the EU...
Carrefour denies the accusations and strongly condemns the use of forced labour in its supply chain. Following the alert we received, an investigation was immediately launched.
All the suppliers mentioned were contacted. To date, the audits and traceability checks indicate that there are no non-compliances linked to forced labor in the Group's suppliers.
However, the Group has decided to continue its investigations and to include the list of sensitive sectors in its vigilance plan, and therefore to increase the level of surveillance on these sectors...
