Correspondence
Email sent to the Corporate Communication Department of Nichiro Group.
The email said Shandong Meijia has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program. 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 enrollment. Meijia's website cites Maruha Nichiro Group as an international partner. The email also asked for comment.
The PR Department of Maruha Nichiro Corporation replied by email to say they would reply by June 20 after looking into the situation with the relevant department.
The PR Department of Maruha Nichiro Corporation sent an email providing the 'annual survey on human rights' questions that it sends to its suppliers, and said that Meijia Group scored the highest marks in the scale across all questions. The email also provided points of information that Meijia provided to Maruha Nichiro on foot of The Outlaw Ocean Project's email to Maruha Nichiro, in which Meijia said it accepted employees from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region through their own application and that these employees gradually returned home after the end of 2019, due to Covid-19. Meijia also said that it needs fewer manual works than it did in the past and the group is not recruiting workers in remote areas now.
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied to Maruha Nichiro, saying there was evidence that contradicted the statement given to Maruha Nichiro by Shandong Meijia regarding Xinjiang workers, including Chinese news coverage of Xinjiang workers going to Shandong Meijia in February 2020. The email also asked additional questions of Maruha Nichiro regarding social audits of Shandong Meijia Group sites.
Maruha Nichiro's PR deparment emailed: "We have not conducted the on-site audit related to labor aspects of Shandong Meijia Group yet. The latest response to the self-assessment questionnaire from SMG that we mentioned in the previous message was returned back to us early in this month. Regarding the issues you raised for us, we will keep close watch on any information that will concern inadequate labor practices."