I’m writing to you in light of our latest investigation, which concerns abuses in the Chinese squid fishing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between a companies engaged in abuses and your supply chain.
Lyons Seafoods' supplier Shandong Haidu has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under a 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 Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor…
Lyons Seafoods Supply Chain Media Query: Chinese Squid Fishing Industry
As a responsible organisation and member of FNET (Food Network of Ethical Trade), we take very seriously the working conditions of any personnel involved in the production of our products. We promote and commit to respect the International Labour Organization (ILO) declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, as well as the ETI Base code.
To ensure that working conditions meet our aims and objectives we have our Ethical Trading [Code of Conduct for Suppliers](https://www.labeyrie-fine-foods.com/wp-content…
Thank you very much for your statement, we really appreciate your engagement with us on this matter. Could we see the completed Self-Assessment Questionnaires you referred to in your statement? And could we see the audit reports? Can you confirm if either the Self-Assessment Questionnaires or the audit identified Uyghur labor at Shandong Haidu? Please send us your responses to the above queries by end of day, July 3, 2023.
As you can understand we cannot share self-assessment questionnaires nor audit reports to anyone outside of our value chains. We will reiterate that we have received all necessary assurances confirming that no labour from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is being used by the plant.
Thank you for your reply, and that additional note. May I ask if you have independently verified these self-assessment questionnaires and, if so, how you did so? Could you confirm the date of the last SMETA audit conducted, and the name of the auditor?
Public statements from the Chishan Group, the owner of Shandong Haidu, confirm that Uyghurs were first deployed to Shandong Haidu in February 2021. Uyghurs continued to work at Shandong Haidu as recently as December 2022, according to statements from the Chishan Group, the plant’s owner. Our findings indicate that social audits conducted over m…
We are extremely concerned with this and could you kindly share with us a copy of the public statement from the Chishan Group?
We cannot give publicly available documents right now for fear that companies will begin pulling theirs down, but we can say they are indeed company documents published by the companies themselves and they clearly corroborate the companies’ engagement with Uyghur labor transfers and the presence of Uyghurs in the processing plants. Could you address the questions we raised in our last email by close of business today: May I ask if you have independently verified these self-assessment questionnaires and, if so, how you did so? Could you confirm the date of the last SMETA audit conducted, and t…
We wanted to check back in with you regarding the questions we sent you at the start of this month - would you be able to get the responses to us by close of business Monday (July 31)? To recap, here are the questions: Have you independently verified the self-assessment questionnaires you referred to in previous emails and, if so, how you did so? Could you confirm the date of the last SMETA audit conducted, and the name of the auditor? Does Labeyrie have any comment to make about the effectiveness of SMETA audit in identifying Uyghur forced labor? Does Labeyrie conduct any human rights due dil…
Further to our emails dated June 28, 2023, and July 28, 2023, our investigation has identified additional links to Xinjiang labor in your company's supply chain.
According to our research, Lyons Seafoods is supplied by Sirena Group. Trade records show that Sirena Group has imported shipments of seafood from a supplier called Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., based in China.
Yantai Sanko Fisheries has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least April 2023. The United Nations, human rights organizations and acad…