Correspondence
Email sent to media team at Coles.
The email said: "My name is Ian Urbina and I’m the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalism non-profit based in Washington D.C. that publishes stories about human rights and environmental issues connected with the sea.
I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in such practices and your supply chain. ██████████
Shandong Haidu has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the 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 programs which use coercive methods in worker enrollment, and obstruct freedom to leave employment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Coles have any comment to make in response to the above information? Please reply to this email by close of business on July 6, 2023."
Jessica Tancred, Media Manager Corporate & Indigenous Affairs at Coles Australia, replied: "Thank you for your media inquiry.
On background, our records do not indicate that processor Shandong Haidu Ocean Product Co Ltd is mapped in our Tier 1 or Tier 2 supply chain, however we will investigate further as human rights is an issue we take very seriously at Coles.
Please credit the below to Coles spokesperson:
“Coles is committed to acting responsibly and working with suppliers that meet the requirements of our Ethical Sourcing Policy. To ensure we uphold this, the Coles’ Ethical Sourcing Program focuses on mitigating risk across our operations and supply chain. We work closely with our suppliers and take a risk-based approach to ensure we focus on the areas in the supply chain with higher likelihood of human rights and labour rights violations. Suppliers must implement all the requirements within our Ethical Sourcing Program to retain business with Coles.”
We thank you for bringing this to our attention and we will investigate further."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Apologies but we do not quote spokespeople anonymously nor do we permit unilateral on background input. We remain on record and only provide anonymity to sources when there are safety risks to those sources if they are named."