Bluenumbers in Japan to Address Human Rights for Small Farmers and Supply Chains
Tokyo, Japan, September 14, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Caux Round Table Japan (CRT Japan) and Bluenumber Foundation will provide 'bluenumbers' to farmers in Japan, and for Japanese companies buying agriculture and seafood from Asia. Bluenumbers are unique identifiers for farmers to publicly self-declare who they are, where they are and what they produce on an independent, neutral registry and global map. The farmer-centric online platform being piloted by CRT Japan and Bluenumber Foundation will ultimately help Japanese consumers know exactly the farmers and fishers supplying their food and agricultural produce.
Hiroshi Ishida, Executive Director of CRT Japan, says, “We believe bluenumbers will greatly help companies to respect human rights across supply chain by making every farmer and actor in their value chain clearly visible. Such precise geo-located information will support development of human rights policies, conduct human rights due diligence and, especially, allow meaningful impact assessment and measurement”. CRT Japan helps companies embed sustainability into their corporate strategy and management systems, with a focus on business and human rights since 2012.
Human rights can only be embedded in food supply chains when every farmer is clearly visible and known.
Hiroshi Ishida, Executive Director, CRT Japan
Japan significantly sources food, fish and shrimp from countries such as Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. These are the first ASEAN countries to begin bluenumber pilot projects for palm oil, rice, fruits, oilseeds and farmed seafood. Japanese retailers also operate extensively in the ASEAN region. They will use bluenumbers to ensure that the products sold in their stores meet international expectations of sustainability and human rights.
Puvan Selvanathan, CEO of Bluenumber Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in New York, notes that, “Bluenumbers establish who food comes from. Supply chains today cannot be ‘black boxes’. If you buy from a 100,000 farmers – then what are their names and where are they? Large companies and brands claiming to respect human rights, or providing livelihoods for farmers, cannot credibly do so unless they can show that they know exactly who is in their supply chains”.
The bluenumber platform offers anyone the chance to establish a global identity instantly, and build trust by offering basic information for open public viewing. They can link and provide other information to organisations, buyers and consumers if they wish. This allows for full traceability and transparency of who is involved in chains, and encourages questions to avoid layers that add cost without value, and exploitation of farmers at the base of the pyramid.
The CRT Japan and BNF partnership has been tailored through discussions between intergovernmental organisations and industry. For Japan, the bluenumber pilot project will focus on fishing, agriculture and food industries to address human rights impacts of foreign workers supplying commodities, for traceability and transparency of processes and produce sourced from ASEAN, and to encourage small farmers and fishers to present themselves directly to consumers.
For more information please email: info@bluenumber.org
Source: Bluenumber Foundation