October is officially the Fair-trade month, so it is a good time to understand what the concept really means.
Fair trade is a financial relationship between producers, sellers, and consumers based on the principle of equity within the exchange of goods. Equity is achieved via creating a platform for trade that is transparent and therefore accountable for the just treatment of all producers. This includes providing market avenues that allow marginalized producers the opportunity to sell, ensuring humane working conditions, and all the while protecting environmental and cultural factors that play into the production process.
There are nine main principles by which all fair trade abides:
1. Create opportunities for marginalized producers
2. Develop transparent relationships
3. Build capacity
4. Promote fair trade
5. Pay promptly and fairly
6. Support empowering working conditions
7. Ensure children’s rights
8. Cultivate environmental stewardship
9. Respect cultural identity
It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. The practice of fair trade places the communities involved in both selling and buying products as the primary focus, attempting to create a partnership which is beneficial to both parties.
Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.
Most fair trade import organisations are members of, or certified by one of several national or international federations. These federations coordinate, promote, and facilitate the work of fair trade organizations. Some of the most popular Fair Trade federations are:
The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International
World Fair Trade Organization
Network of European Worldshops
European Fair Trade Association
Fair Trade Federation
Fairtrade certification purports to guarantee not only fair prices, but also the principles of ethical purchasing. These principles include adherence to ILO agreements such as those banning child and slave labour, guaranteeing a safe workplace and the right to unionise, adherence to the United Nations charter of human rights, a fair price that covers the cost of production and facilitates social development, and protection and conservation of the environment.
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