The Corporate Accountability Lab report alerts about child labor, debt bondage and hazardous working conditions, among other abuses.
Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL)
Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) has published a report denouncing that human rights, forced and child labor and environmental abuses in Indian shrimp sector continue to occur partly due to a regulation lack from the Indian and U.S. governments.
Surprisingly, Indian shrimp is considered a "low-risk" source and the country is the largest shrimp supplier to the US market, providing 40.8% of all shrimp imports in 2023, CAL recalls in a press release.
Moreover, the report includes in its accusations shrimp products with social and environmental labels given by the industry’s largest certification associations.
Among the abuses are child labor, debt bondage, verbal abuse, hazardous working conditions, and restricted movement imposed by the company.
On the other hand, Indian hatcheries and shrimp farms contaminate the drinking water intended for communities and local agricultural and fisheries lands. Furthermore, shrimp farms are the reason why mangroves are disappearing since they capture four times more carbon than terrestrial forests.
Finally, CAL alerts about the trace track absence of the origin of Indian shrimp products, "contributing to the persistence of labor and environmental abuses."
These abuses are part of the cost-cutting structure of the Indian shrimp industry as occur in every stage of the aquaculture production. "Iis not a fringe occurrence," the report confirms.
CAL asks for the U.S. retailers and wholesalers collaborations and agreements between companies and independent worker organizations to culminate with this situation.
Companies should reduce their ability to "shirk accountability by, among other strategies, relying on failed industry-run certification schemes" it concludes.
Last week, Norway and the other EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland) have reached a historic agreement with India on a trade deal. It is the first time that India has incorporated references to human rights in a trade agreement, according to the Norwegian government.
