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.
This year, states will begin implementing a global minimum tax rate of fifteen percent on multinational corporations with more than €750 million (about $810 million) in revenues. If these tax reforms succeed in increasing tax revenues across the approximately 140 implementing countries as they intend, these additional funds could be used to advance the social and economic rights of their citizens, especially for the most vulnerable populations, including those whose rights have been abused by corporations historically. However, the coming tax reforms are still so riddled with gray areas regarding form and function that it is too early to call the initiative a victory in corporate accountability.