Public consultation: 4) Processing section of the FAO Voluntary Guidance

FAO Members have given FAO a specific mandate to promote social sustainability in the fisheries and aquaculture value chains, including recognising and protecting human and labour rights. In order to fulfil this commitment, the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division is developing a guidance to promote and facilitate the implementation of existing international instruments, conventions and standards to improve social practices by the private sector, including enforcing human and labour rights, decent work and social protection.

The FAO Voluntary Guidance on Social Responsibility in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chains will be a voluntary, non-binding, complementary and user-friendly tool, and will be built on existing international instruments.

The FAO Voluntary Guidance will contain a general part and six sections of the fisheries and aquaculture value chains:  (1) Industrial Fishing, (2) Small-Scale Fishing, (3) Aquaculture Production, (4) Processing, (5) Distribution, and (6) Retailing and Wholesaling.

The target audience of this Guidance is industry and private business actors. But it can also be a relevant tool for policymakers, and regional fisheries managements organizations (RFMO).

The draft text of the section "Processing" of the FAO Voluntary Guidance is open to stakeholders interested in commenting this work.

The draft will be available for comments and suggestions on this platform until Sunday 15 February 2025 (23:59 CET/European time). 

Please bear in mind while commenting, it is therefore of utmost importance to focus only on processing activities. There will be a general part of the FAO Guidance that will contain the universal principles. 

Comments and feedback should be submitted only via this platform.

If you face any problems, please contact Mariana Toussaint (Mariana.Toussaint@fao.org)