I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain.
Cité Marine’s supplier Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Products has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the state-imposed labor transfer program.
The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly…
Further to our email dated July 4, 2023, our investigation has identified additional links to Uyghur labor in your company's supply chain. Cité Marine’s supplier Qingdao Lian Yang Aquatic Products, which is linked to Qingdao Tianyuan by corporate ownership, has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the state-imposed labor transfer program. Our investigation demonstrates the presence of Uyghur workers at Qingdao Lian Yang as recently as April 2023. Does Cité Marine have any comment or statement to make in light of the above informati…
The company had not received the previous emails and asked: Could you tell us what is the framework of your journalistic work and for what purposes your requests are intended? Depending on the information you provide us with, we could then arrange an appointment.
The email in its original language said: "Nous avons bien reçu votre courriel en date du 04/10 et vous en remercions. Après vérification, nous n’avons reçu aucun des mails auxquels vous faites allusion (04-07-23 et 15-09-23). Pourriez-vous nous préciser quel est le cadre de votre travail journalistique et à quelles fins se destinent…
The Outlaw Ocean Project’s publishing partner Le Monde replied. A summary of the email in English: The email reiterated the questions raised by The Outlaw Ocean in its two prior emails to Cité Marine, and noted they had been sent to email addresses frequently used by the company.
The email in its original language said: "Merci de votre réponse. Les deux emails ont pourtant été envoyés à des adresses fréquemment utilisées par l'entreprise. Par ailleurs, il est probable que des distributeurs vous aient également sollicité avec des interrogations sur ce sujet.
La question posée reste la même q…
Cité Marine does not work with the company Lian Yang Aquatic Products, and that the Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Product company is MSC certified. This standard guarantees compliance with social standards, including the absence of forced labor. The email said that Qingdao Tianyuan has also been subject to regular social audits for several years under the SMETA benchmark, and these have never revealed any use of Uyghur forced labor. When Cité Marine became aware of the investigation, it immediately commissioned a new unannounced SMETA audit, which did not find Uyghur forced labor. The supplier also…
A coalition of eighteen NGOs wrtoe to thirteen major seafood distributors and retailers, including Cité Marine, asking a series of questions connected to the Outlaw Ocean's reporting. Their email to Cité Marine said: "Dear Cité Marine,
We are writing to you on behalf of a consortium of human rights NGOs requesting an update on the steps Cité Marine has taken following the investigation published by The Outlaw Ocean Project. The investigation highlighted concerns about state-imposed Uyghur and North Korean forced labor across the Chinese seafood processing facilities, including within your com…
Dear Ethan and Krysta,
As we explained to Outlaw, we have a due diligence process in place :
Indeed, as part of our responsible purchasing policy, we have the following prerequisites :
- Establishment of a risk map by country of origin,
- For the highest risks (e.g. China) : guarantee of carrying out social audits (SMETA or BSCI), every year,
- Signature of the commitment to respect our CSR charter by our suppliers. This charter incorporates the UN's main Sustainable Development Goals.
By signing this commitment, the supplier undertakes to respect all the clauses as well as accepting unanno…
We last emailed Cité Marine on September 15, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Our ongoing investigation has uncovered additional evidence which we wanted to bring to your attention.
We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve f…
We have just read your email and we apologize for our late response. Of course, we were not aware of these practices. Haiqing is actually one of our suppliers of yellow fine sole. We know that it has several factories in the Liaoning. But the materials we have purchased only come from one factory. Can you specify which factory is implicated so that we can identify if it is the factory that supplies us? I precize that I’m in charge of this kind of topics. Please contact me directly, instead of the email addresses below that are the wrong recipients.
Thank you very much for your email, and for engaging with us and our investigation.
As a journalism outlet, we are unable to provide anything that risks exposing our sources to retribution or penalty from authorities in China and/or North Korea. That said, we do not wish to hinder your investigation into the allegations and will share what additional context we feel safely able to at this time.
As you acknowledged in your email of February 16, 2024, Dalian Haiqing operates multiple plants from the same area in Zhuanghe City, Liaoning (Address: Floor 1-3, No. 9, Section 2, Jianshe Street, Zhu…
Thanks for your reply. Of course, we strongly condemn such facts, if they are true.
You mention the following adress : Address: Floor 1-3, No. 9, Section 2, Jianshe Street, Zhuanghe City, Dalian, Liaoning Province. Is this the exact address at which the reports were made?
As part of our responsible purchasing policy, we have the following prerequisites:
- Establishment of a risk map by country of origin
- For the highest risks (e.g. China) : guarantee of carrying out social audits (SMETA or BSCI)
- Signature of the commitment to respect our CSR charter by our suppliers. It incorporates the U…