Correspondence
Email sent to Holly Wild, Global Media Enquiries at Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA).
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation, which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered with an accreditation issued by your organisation.
Our investigation has identified a number of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified seafood processing facilities in China using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
LRQA company Acoura Marine Limited is the accreditor listed in the MSC Supplier Directory for the processing plant Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., and your website states you undertake social audits using three of the four auditable standards recognised by the MSC, according to its October 2022 Labour Eligibility Requirements. MSC accreditation was issued to Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. after it was known to have accepted Uyghurs though Chinese government labor transfer programs, and our investigation demonstrates the presence of Uyghur forced labor at the site over a multi-year period.
The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrolment and obstruct freedom to terminate employment.
Does LRQA have any comment to make in light of the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business June 26, 2023."