fair trade certified™: a mainstream tool to fight human trafficking texas abolitionist workshop,...
TRANSCRIPT
Fair Trade Certified™: A Mainstream Tool to
Fight Human Trafficking
Texas Abolitionist Workshop, Houston TX, September 24, 2011
What do these companies have in common?
They have all made major commitments to source and sell Fair Trade Certified™ products!
What we’ll cover today…
What is Fair Trade Certified™?
How “mainstream” has it become?
How does it relate to human trafficking?
What is “Fair Trade for All”?
What are Fair Trade Towns and Universities?
What can you do to help?
What is it?
Worldwide voluntary certification program:Stakeholder-based principles, criteria, and
indicators for improved corporate practicesThird-party independent verification of
complianceA consumer-oriented seal of approval for
compliance
Historically, the UL seal one of the best examples:
Leading social and environmental certification systems
Assures that wood and paper products come from well-managed forests, not forest devastation
Assures that farmers and farm-workers have been paid fairly and have protected the environment… and it fosters both empowerment and community development
Assures that seafood has been harvested sustainably, restoring fisheries in the oceans
How does Fair Trade work?
Farmers get certified to FTC standards, subject to annual audits on their continued compliance
Certified farmers are entitled to FTC minimum prices and “social premium”
Companies are licensed to use the FTC logo, but only for products fully traceable to FTC farmers
Consumers find the logo and can be confident about the improved fairness of the products they purchase that carry the FTC seal.
And check out the FSC label on the right-hand side of Ben & Jerry’s packaging!
How “mainstream”?
More than 800 partner companies licensed by FTUSA to sell FTC products in the U.S.
Now more than 10,000 different FTC products in U.S. stores
More than $220 million in additional benefits for farmers and farm workers in recent years
Approx. $1.6 billion in U.S. retail sales in 2010
Quarterly growth of FTC sales in Q2/2011 up more than 63% in U.S. grocery & specialty chains
Look at just 4 commodities..
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
0
20,000,000
40,000,000
60,000,000
80,000,000
100,000,000
120,000,000
FTC coffee imports into the U.S.
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
20100
250,000
500,000
750,000
1,000,000
1,250,000
1,500,000
1,750,000
2,000,000
FTC tea imports into the U.S.
0
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000FTC sugar imports into the U.S.
0
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
FTC cocoa imports into the U.S.
Links to trafficking?
Forced labor and (inappropriate) child labor is strictly prohibited by Fair Trade standards, and every certified producer is audited against that standard every year. [Stronger than government enforcement!]
Freedom of association is guaranteed to all workers in FT hired labor situations.
All forms of discrimination are prohibited (incl. race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs)
Any producers found with violations are quickly suspended from the FT system
The BBC “Panorama” story
Reporter found child slave labor from Burkina Faso in Ghanean cocoa plantations, and tried to link it to Cadbury’s chocolate bars
Cadbury’s sources were all FT certified; farms with child slavery had been suspended, and, he reported: “It means that unlike other chocolate products, Fairtrade cocoa is traceable to the source farm and action can be taken when bad practices are uncovered…”
March 2010 BBC story on “Tracing the bitter truth in chocolate and child labour”
The problem with Hershey’s
• According ‘Report Card’ -- just last week -- from Green America, Global Exchange, and International Labor Rights Fund
• Failed to meet a promise of 10 YEARS AGO to eliminate child labor from its supply chain
• Recommendation? “Go Fair Trade”
‘GETS “F” FOR FAILING TO REMOVE CHILD LABOR FROM ITS CHOCOLATE PRODUCTION’
“Fair Trade for All”
New program of FTUSA designed to expand both who benefits from FT certification and how rapidly those benefits grow. Includes: Expansion of eligibility to more landless farm
workers and unorganized producers Expanding supply of FT products so that more
businesses can engage with FT certification Providing new and greater support to FT farms
and communities Doubling FT impact by 2015
FT Towns and Universities
Most dynamic program for building FT awareness, local engagement, and FT sales
Requirements relatively simple
24 towns across the USA now certified as FT towns, 50 more in the process, including Houston & Austin >>> Houston RR leading the effort here
FT Universities, 4 so far, formed in similar fashion (UW Oshkosh, UCSD, WKY, and Siena College)
What can you do??
Support the Houston RR “Fair Trade Houston Campaign”
Sign the petition to Hershey’s to “Go Fair Trade” at www.ilrf.org/cocoa-campaign
Build a Fair Trade Coalition in your college or school
Bring more Fair Trade Certified™ products into your own lives, because:
Every Purchase Matters.