Seafood buyers are increasingly making important commitments to respect human rights in their operations and supply chains. However, recent reports have highlighted how purchasing practices can unintentionally contribute to abuses, such as pushing for supplier prices below cost, one-sided contracts, and over-reliance on spot markets. This session will zoom in on how businesses are enhancing their practices to ensure how they buy aligns with their human rights commitments. Oxfam will share topline lessons from its new report on good buyer practices on procurement and human rights, around areas such as contracting, buyer KPIs, and preferential sourcing. Leading seafood companies will share examples on how they are adapting their own purchasing practices to respect human rights, their challenges, and lessons. The Ethical Trade Initiative will share a promising new initiative to bring together large seafood buyers to enhance procurement practices to better respect human rights in shrimp production in Southeast Asia. Presentations will be followed by group discussion with the audience on where buyers should focus more, remaining challenges, and how to take the sector forward together.
