Responsible recruitment—sometimes referred to as ethical or fair recruitment—refers to concepts, initiatives, and supporting structures that uphold migration with dignity. Complementary actions from companies and governments are important due to governance gaps that leave workers and job seekers vulnerable to exploitation during or due to migration for work.

• Explore more: Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity and Migration with Dignity: A Guide to Implementing the Dhaka Principles.

Governments and regulators are increasing efforts to improve policies and address gaps, including combatting recruiters and employers using unfair and nontransparent practices.

• Explore more: International Organization for Migration (IOM) The Montreal Recommendations on Recruitment: A Roadmap towards Better Regulation.

ILO guidance stipulates that no recruitment fees or related costs should be borne by workers or jobseekers (although some exemptions exist). The “Employer Pays” model also requires that all costs of recruitment are met by the employer.

• Explore more:
  • ILO General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and Definition of recruitment fees and related costs.
  • Impactt Limited Ethical recruitment: Translating Policy into Practice
  • Issara Institute: Slavery Free Recruitment Systems.

For a company to ensure migration with dignity and follow fair recruitment and employment practices, no worker should pay a fee to secure a job, workers should be recruited through legal and ethical processes, and the hiring process must include worker safeguards and transparency.

• Explore more:
  • Responsible Recruitment Tool: Eliminating Recruitment and Employment Fees – Guide for retailers, brands, employers, labor providers.
  • Impactt: Ethical Recruitment: Translating Policy into Practice.
  • Issara Institute: Slavery Free Recruitment Systems.

The seafood industry relies on many workers to produce, harvest, and process fish and other seafood products. However, taking on a new job—especially if a worker must migrate between countries for that job—is often risky. Even before a worker steps foot in a processing facility or arrives at a vessel, they may accrue debts that make them vulnerable to coercion, exploitation, debt bondage, and threats.

According to the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative, workers may encounter one or more of the following abuses in the recruitment process:

• Deception about the nature and conditions of work.
• Retention of passports.
• Illegal wage deductions.
• Debt bondage linked to repayment of recruitment fees.
• Threats if they express a desire to leave their employers, coupled with threats of subsequent expulsion from a country.

For some seafood supply chains, including fishing vessels on the high seas, work occurs under multiple jurisdictions and exploitation during the migration process is well documented. The worker, captain, vessel owner, vessel flag, fishing operations, and ports visited may represent different countries. The many potential jurisdictions may make it challenging to assess risk accurately, map national recruitment laws, and enforce legal practices.

Despite these challenges, the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights establishes the responsibility of businesses to respect internationally recognized human rights within their operations and supply chains, including during the recruitment process. Companies need to address recruitment-related risk as it is an essential component to reducing business risks, strengthening company resilience, and building a brand of social responsibility.

Human rights and labor abuse during the recruitment process may be associated with the following different types of risks for companies:

• Legal
• Reputational and brand value
• Resilience/stability of supply chain
• Barriers to trade
• Eligibility for investment funding
• Threats to participation in collaborations or public-sector funding streams

Evaluating and improving the recruitment process is crucial to address and mitigate the risk of forced labor, debt bondage, and human trafficking. When workers are required to pay for recruitment-related fees and costs, as well as pay brokers or others for access, bribes, or other undisclosed fees, they take on an increasingly high debt burden that may bind them to their employers and increase their vulnerability to exploitation.