The Tuna Council’s Commitment on Labor and Human Rights

• Forced labor is immoral and illegal. Our companies take a number of intensive, proactive steps to ensure workers are treated fairly from the fisheries to the grocery store shelf.

• Suppliers are independently audited, workplaces and vessels are inspected, and fishermen are interviewed to ensure compliance with strict codes of conduct.

• American tuna companies work with the Seafood Task Force, an international NGO founded to tackle forced labor and human trafficking issues.

• Our companies have also developed internal accountability standards and training protocols to help our own employees root out evidence of illegal labor practices in the supply chain.

• It’s important for everyone to understand that our companies are just one part of a fishing economy and supply chain that supports the livelihoods of two hundred million people around the globe. We fully comply with U.S. and international law and go beyond it to establish best practices. But anyone with a sincere and good-faith interest in rooting out illegal labor must look at the critical role of a number of other actors and governments around the world.

• Activists who target American tuna companies are targeting one of their strongest allies in the fight against illegal labor practices. Their donors, and the world, would be better served if they focused their campaigns on the actors around the world who are actually evading international law and standards of conduct, not the companies who are taking proactive efforts to hold those bad actors accountable.