09/08/2018

Thai Union Announces Support for Bali Process Recommendations to Address Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

7 AUGUST 2018, BANGKOK—Thai Union Group PCL. participated in the second annual Bali Process Government and Business Forum held in line with the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia on 6-7 August 2018 in Bali.

The Forum is an important platform enabling public and private sector leaders across the Indo-Pacific region to learn from each other’s experiences to eradicate human trafficking, forced labor, modern slavery and the worst forms of child labor.

This year’s meeting helped set the Bali Process Acknowledge, Act and Advance (AAA) Recommendations as a pathway for action to achieve Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and eliminate transnational crimes currently afflicting people throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

In a written statement to the Forum, Dr. Darian McBain, Thai Union’s global director for sustainable development, highlighted the company’s support for the AAA Recommendations.

McBain stated Thai Union is particularly supportive of Pillar Two of the AAA Recommendations calling upon governments to strengthen, implement and enforce policies and legislation to encourage ethical recruitment practices, improve transparency across supply chains, and provide support and redress mechanisms for victims.

In line with Thai Union’s SeaChange® sustainability strategy, the company has worked to implement ethical policies and business practices, address risks in its global supply chain, and engage and share best practices with other businesses, partners and governments.

The Forum noted one of the major challenges confronting business in the region, is debt bondage, with 66 percent of all victims of slavery in the Asia Pacific in forced labor, and more than half of these victims of forced labor held in debt bondage.

“Thai Union has eliminated recruitment fees for all workers in our processing plants, effective for all future recruitment of workers both from within Thailand and overseas,” McBain stated. “It is incumbent upon all of us, particularly the governments and businesses involved in the Bali Process, to lead in this fight. We do this, in part, through genuine political will, multi-party collaboration, compassion for our fellow humans, and resolute, uncompromising determination to end modern slavery.”

To read the full statement, please click here.