Corporate Accountability Lab unleashes the creative potential of the law to protect people and the planet from corporate abuse.
HIDDEN HARVEST
HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ABUSES IN INDIA’S SHRIMP INDUSTRY
March 2024
Over the past decade, India has emerged as the United States’ leading source of shrimp, the most consumed seafood in the country. However, this success is marred by a production process that relies on forced labor, dangerous and abusive working conditions, and environmental destruction to meet demands for ever-lower prices. While countries like Thailand, China, and Bangladesh have faced criticism for similar abuses, India, which supplies almost 40 percent of U.S. shrimp imports, has remained under the radar with little public scrutiny – until now.
This report challenges the current narrative and issues an urgent call to action. As demand for shrimp continues to grow, so must the pressure on companies and governments to identify and remedy the sector’s pervasive forced labor, abusive conditions, and environmental harms.
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our work
Research
We study the laws that govern corporate behavior and identify how and why such laws fail to hold corporations accountable for the human rights violations and environmental harms occurring across their supply chains.
Legal Design
We design strategic interventions into global supply chains to better protect human rights and the environment through novel litigation strategy and new forms of worker empowerment.
Collaboration
We collaborate with lawyers, law school clinics, other corporate accountability NGOs, and workers to workshop our designs, coordinate strategy, and implement our strategic interventions.
It has only been a few weeks since we published our report and already we are seeing shifts in the industry. In the coming months, we hope to see more improvements for workers and their communities. The first step towards change is acknowledging the problem. The attention on the industry and the acknowledgement from many U.S. retailers and distributors that they need to look into their supply chains, is a beginning. As we move forward, it is imperative that companies – both U.S. and Indian – do more than make appropriate statements. They must implement changes to upend the prevailing pattern of abuse.