DIWA and Seafood Legacy Sign an MoU Technical Partnership on Socially Responsible Seafood to advocate robust Human Rights Due Diligence in Japan
TOKYO (Oct 9th, 2024)— Sustainable seafood organization Seafood Legacy(hereafter, SFL) and labour rights organization Dignity in Work for All (hereafter, DIWA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the Tokyo Sustainable Seafood Summit (TSSS) 2024 to collaborate on efforts to advance socially responsible seafood business in Japan.
In recent years, public awareness is rising with regard to corporate social responsibilities of the seafood industry on human and labour rights. As one of the largest seafood market nations, it is highly anticipated that Japanese companies improve their sourcing manner and contribute positively to tackle this global challenge.
Seafood Legacy has been consulting on sustainable seafood with the purpose of ensuring that future generations can inherit the abundant seafood as a symbol of the deep connections between local communities, fishery economics, and marine ecosystems. DIWA has worked in many sectors including seafood, agriculture, the garment industry, electronics, and others to support human rights and increased transparency across global supply chains. Under the MoU, both parties will collaborate to advocate robust Human Rights Due Diligence by the companies, and to provide technical support to stakeholders in the Japanese seafood industry.
Seafood Legacy provides technical advice to companies and facilitates initiatives on social issues in the seafood supply chain with DIWA’s support.
“In addition to the pursuit of environmental sustainability, we launched full-scale efforts to address social issues in the seafood supply chain through corporate support and advocacy in 2022” said Wakao Hanaoka, CEO of Seafood Legacy Co., Ltd. “Through some collaborative work with DIWA, we recognized that their expertise on human and labor rights in the global seafood industry is a huge leverage for SFL. We hope this new partnership will be valuable to tackle human rights violations, including forced labor in the global seafood industry.”
Specifically, DIWA will support tools aimed at strengthening companies’ capacity to understand, identify, and address human rights risks and impacts in their business operations and supply chains. Companies will be able to design appropriate system controls and interventions that foster deeper accountability and continuous improvement at the corporate and supplier levels.
“DIWA is looking forward to this strategic partnership with Seafood Legacy in promoting human rights and dignified labour in the global seafood industry in the coming years, but most especially for corporations headquartered here in Japan.” said Lowie Rosales-Kawasaki, Country Director of DIWA in Japan, “With the establishment of the DIWA-Japan office, we expect an even closer collaboration as we can complement each other’s strengths to help seafood corporations address human rights and labour issues in a meaningful and pragmatic way.”
Mutual goals include ensuring that the human rights of all people in Japan and overseas who are involved in the Japanese seafood market are protected, risks to companies and organizations that depend on seafood supply chains are reduced, and Japanese consumers can eat imported seafood with more assurance that their seafood was produced in a responsible way. This wide-ranging effort in Japan, the world’s third largest seafood import market, aspires to have significant positive impacts on workers in global supply chains.
Dignity in Work for All (DIWA), formerly Verite Southeast Asia, is a non-profit, non-government, labor rights organization operating in over 20 countries. DIWA carries out groundbreaking research and social compliance audits and assessments; and partners with multinational brands, suppliers and manufacturers, industry associations, governments, NGOs, and international institutions to highlight risks, create transparency, build capacity, and improve working conditions and overall social and environmental performance within global supply chains. www.dignityinwork.org
Seafood Legacy Co., Ltd. is a social venture based in Tokyo that provides sustainable seafood consulting and platforming services to Japanese seafood businesses and the government. Seafood is a symbol of the connections between marine ecosystems, marine economics, and regional communities, and our purpose is to ensure that it remains abundant for future generations. Seafood Legacy also strategically networks seafood businesses and NGOs to
foster pre-competitive platforms to solve mutual issues that various stakeholders face in Japan and the world. https://seafoodlegacy.com/en/
Contact: Lowie Kawasaki, DIWA-Japan
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Seafood Legacy Co., Ltd.
Mariko Arikawa,
Email: [email protected]
Yukino Tomizuka
Email:[email protected]
