Rationale 3.2

According to recent estimates, 28 million people are victims of human trafficking, debt bondage, and more subtle forms of forced labour that force employees to remain in their jobs against their will through other means of threat.6767Walk Free. (2023). The Global Slavery Index 2023. Perth, Australia: Minderoo Foundation.

These practices persist globally across many industries, including seafood production and processing This may take the form of threats or coercion, barring access to legal protections, withholding of identification by employers or high recruitment fees to secure jobs. Risk of some of these practices may be particularly high due to the presence of migrant worker populations.

This Criterion focuses on the prevention of all forms of forced labour by ASC-certified farms, during recruitment and employment. Rather than disengaging from any abuses identified, as part of ASC’s approach to respect human rights and work on improvements in aquaculture, this Criterion requires that effective remediation is conducted.

Intent – The aquaculture industry does not engage in the use of forced labour and provides effective remediation for affected individuals.