On Monday, the Associated Press (AP) released an investigative report, as a part of their continued effort to bring attention to human trafficking, revealing that U.S. grocers and restaurants are the receivers of shrimp peeled, gutted, and deveined by slaves. The AP journalist traced the shrimp from peeling sheds and large warehouses to shrimp manufacturers who provide shrimp to various countries, including the U.S.
Since Monday, there have been calls for boycotting the Thai shrimp industry — including asking consumers to read the labels and avoid buying seafood product imported from Thailand. This is not enough, however, since according to the same AP report, Thailand is not the only country using slaves to clean their shrimp. The AP reported:
“The State Department’s annual anti-trafficking reports have tied such seafood to 55 countries on six continents, including major suppliers to the U.S. Earlier this year, the AP uncovered a slave island in Benjina, Indonesia, where hundreds of migrant fishermen were trafficked from Thailand and sometimes locked in a cage. In November, food giant Nestle disclosed that its own Thai suppliers were abusing and enslaving workers and has vowed to force change.“
What We Need To Know
According to a U.S. Department of State’s report, Strengthening Protections Trafficking in Persons in Federal and Corporate Supply Chain:
“More than twenty million men, women and children around the world are currently believed to be victims of human trafficking, a global criminal industry estimated to be worth $150.2 billion annually.”
The Thai seafood industry brings in roughly $7 billion each year — mostly on the backs of slaves — with the United States purchasing a considerable portion of that seafood. According to CNN:
“the United States is the largest importer of Thai seafood, purchasing $1.7 billion a year, and shrimp is the most common seafood purchased in America.”
The AP reported that most of the slaves are migrant workers — both documented and undocumented. Some even have an education, but were made promises of prosperity in Thailand, only to arrive owing a debt to those who helped them into the country. As a result, they were forced into unpaid labor to pay off this debt. The AP noted:
“Under the U.S. government’s definition, forced labor and debt bondage are considered slavery.“
Once these migrants are forced into working in the shrimp industry, they face horrific conditions, including working where there are:
“toilets overflowed with feces, and the putrid smell of raw sewage wafted from an open gutter just outside the work area. Young children ran barefoot through suffocating dorm rooms. Entire families labored side-by-side at rows of stainless steel counters piled high with tubs of shrimp.”
The migrants are forced to work while they are sick — including those who are allergic to shrimp. Though they work 16-hour work days, they are only allowed a 15-minute lunch break. These are not conditions only adults are facing; children are also required to peel shrimp along with their families, rather than go to school. The only difference between the adults and children is children begin their shift at 4:00 a.m., one hour later than the adults.
Slave labor is not exclusive to the cleaning process, but also to to the fishing of the shrimp. The Department of State reported in July that:
“Some men remain at sea for several years, are paid very little or irregularly, work as much as 18 to 20 hours per day for seven days a week, or are threatened and physically beaten.”
These reports are disgusting. But, what is anyone doing to stop this human trafficking?
What are the Thai Government and Shrimp Manufacturers Doing About This Pervasive Problem?
The Thai government is well aware of the problem they face with slavery. They allege that they have cracked down on slavery, passing legislation to prevent and regulate this form of labor, but acknowledge that there are flaws in the system. They know that at the local level, police need to focus on corruption in their departments. At the national level, they realize that they must close the gaps and weaknesses of their new laws.
As far as the shrimp manufacturers, at least one has publicly shared their concern and explained how they want to attack the problem. On Wednesday, in response to the AP’s story, Thai Union’s CEO, Thiraphong Chansiri, stated:
“I am deeply disappointed that despite our best efforts we have discovered this potential instance of illegal labor practice in our supply chain.”
Thiraphong told reporters that he:
“will spend millions of dollars to end reliance on poorly regulated contractors that have been responsible for much of the abuse. He added that under the current system, it’s almost impossible to ensure that supply chains are clean.”
After having third party investigators attempt to determine whether any of the shrimp they received came from illicit behavior, Thiraphong stated that the problem keeps coming back. Embarrassed by the reports, he claimed that he will have to spend $5 million to pay for laborers who will peel his shrimp instead of relying on these third party companies. He stated:
“This move will provide us with full oversight of all processing stages and will ensure that all workers, whether migrant or Thai, are in safe, legal employment and are treated fairly and with dignity.”
Thiraphong’s response is something that other shrimp manufacturers should be doing. I realize that this will make shrimp more expensive on our end, but if a rise in cost of shrimp will end modern day slavery in Thailand, then that is a price we must be willing to pay.
This is the reason why we should boycott shrimp sold from Thailand. We need to do this to wake up other CEO’s like Theraphong to pay peelers themselves. Any boycott should also wake up the Thai government to crack down and eliminate slavery in their nation.
What is the U.S. Doing To Curb Human Trafficking in the Seafood Industry
Both the U.S. government and Human Rights Activist are calling for a boycott of Thai imported shrimp. They recommend that we read the labels before purchasing our shrimp from the grocery store.
To some, having the government tell us to look at labels is surprising considering that in July, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2393 — Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act of 2015 (Act). This Act would amend an older law requiring manufacturers to label where their meat came from. This amendment would permit manufacturers to leave out the country of origin for all beef, pork, lamb, and chicken products. Fortunately, the Senate has not voted on this Act. Though the Act does not include seafood, the Act would lead to a slippery slope to eventually include shrimp.
This would be a welcome law for U.S. importers who plan to continue purchasing their shrimp from Thailand.
According to the National Fisheries Institute:
“Most U.S. customers said they’re sticking with their Thai distributors, and Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for National Fisheries Institute, which represents about 75 percent of the U.S. seafood industry, said boycotting Thailand is not the answer.”
They believe that if we stop buying fish from Thailand, that we are somehow “not in the conversation about labor” and therefore do not “have the ability to fix it.”
Smaller importers, however, believe that if we stop purchasing shrimp from Thailand, and any other country with reports of slavery, then the Thai government and shrimp manufacturers have no choice but to pay attention considering the U.S. is the biggest importer of their shrimp industry. One of these smaller importers, Buddy Galetti, president of Southwind Foods, explained:
“I guarantee you that if Wal-Mart and Kroger and Red Lobster stopped buying from Thailand until this got fixed, I think pretty soon Thailand would have no choice but to really deal with it…The large corporations are the ones who act like the pope as far as sustainability and human rights, but then they go out and buy from the main culprits.“
What Consumers Can Do
As a country with a history of slavery, we should not want to support any country or business who is trafficking humans to produce their commodities. This is not an exclusively liberal issue, this is a human rights issue that all of us should be held accountable for.
In order to help in this human rights plight, we do not necessarily need to avoid eating shrimp. Instead, we must boycott all imported shrimp. If the shrimp we are purchasing is imported, we need to determine whether it is from one of the countries who may be trafficking humans, such as Thailand.
This is not difficult and can easily be done by simply reading the labels. If we notice that this may be from a country known for slavery, then we shouldn’t buy it. Our best bet is to only purchase local, American shrimp.
We also must be aware of the stores, restaurants, and manufacturers that the AP investigation traced the shrimp to. The following are just some of these establishments reported by the AP:
- Walmart
- Kroger
- Whole Foods
- Dollar General
- Pet Co
- Red Lobster
- Olive Garden
- Chicken of the Sea
- Fancy Feast
- Costco (They were not included in the AP report, but have been sued in federal court for alleged mislabeling of where shrimp was imported from.)
I personally love shrimp. I don’t plan on completely boycotting the entire shrimp industry, but do plan on looking at labels to ensure where my shrimp comes from. I will do this, because:
“[a]ccording to U.S. and United Nations standards, ‘If even a single piece of shrimp coming from a company is tied to forced labor, it taints the entire supply chain.’“
Thus, I will join those boycotting these companies to avoid eating shrimp that has been tainted from this tragic human trafficking.
Featured image by Solidarity Center under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
