Human Rights Due Diligence

Human rights due diligence involves the actions taken by a company to both identify and act upon actual and potential human rights risks for workers in its operations, supply chains and the services it uses. (Ethical Trading Initiative)

Our work on Human Rights Due Diligence includes:

  • Creating a common risk assessment for source fisheries for the UK market, to give us a starting point for where companies and their partners should be focusing their efforts.
  • Developing training on human rights and labour standards in seafood supply chains, covering topics such as Decent Work at Sea, Responsible Recruitment, Grievance Mechanisms, Information Gathering and Risk Assessment, and Purchasing Practices.
  • Jointly engaging with key tools and initiatives to promote alignment and inform their development.
  • Enabling member companies to respond in a timely way to identified risks in source fisheries by creating specific working groups on key areas of concern.

Key focus areas

  • Risk assessment for source fisheries for the UK market. The SEA Alliance Fishery Risk Tool uses data from several indices and ratings systems to produce a high-level baseline assessment of human rights risks in selected fisheries. The focus for assessment is human trafficking, forced labour, and child labour. This assessment is intended to represent the first step in a risk assessment process conducted by businesses and does not constitute a thorough analysis of all factors likely to contribute to risk.
  • The Fishery Risk Tool is accessible to SEA Alliance members through the members only area on this website.
  • Developing training on human rights and labour standards in seafood supply chains. We have developed a six-part webinar series to provide practical guidance to help seafood business though the complexities of Human Rights Due Diligence. To find out more look at our Anchoring Due Diligence Webinar Series page.
  • The webinars are available to view and are open access.
  • Joint engagement. PAS 1550 implementation guidance. The PAS 1550 is a voluntary code of practice developed collaboratively by seafood industry representatives and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), The Pew Charitable Trusts, Oceana and WWF to help industry assess and mitigate the risks posed by IUU fishing in their supply chains. SEA Alliance members have worked with this group of NGOs to produce some guidance to help implement the code.
  • This guidance is open access. Please visit the IUU Watch website for detailed information about the PAS 1550 Due Diligence guide.
  • Respond in a timely way to identified risks in source fisheries. In response to concerns regarding labour issues in the UK fishing sector, the SEA Alliance has developed a timebound action plan focused on ensuring effective Human Rights Due Diligence in UK fish supply chains. The SEA Alliance and its members are working with civil society organisations and the fishing industry to implement this action plan, and engaging with Government agencies to advocate for effective regulation and enforcement.
  • The UK action plan will be accessible to SEA Alliance members through the members only area on this website.