14 Sep 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we publish our Human Rights Commitment, clarifying our understanding of our responsibilities \u2013 and encouraging businesses to step up work on Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Fairtrade International publishes its Human Rights Commitment,<\/a> clarifying our understanding of Fairtrade\u2019s human rights responsibilities \u2013 and encouraging businesses to also step up their work on Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD). The Commitment is the result of three years of dialogue among Fairtrade actors in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to recognize our responsibilities, although Human Rights Policy Commitments are still rare among NGOs and multi-stakeholder initiatives,\u201d says Mary Kinyua, Chair of Fairtrade International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fairtrade works in locations and supply chains that have many systemic human rights challenges: widespread poverty, deep imbalances of power, and discriminatory social norms. Fairtrade exists to empower farmers and workers and advance their rights \u2013 using ongoing support and training for farmers and workers, certification, partnerships, advocacy work, research and awareness raising. Yet, despite our efforts, human rights violations have also sometimes been found in Fairtrade supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll our work seeks to mitigate, prevent and advance the remediation of human rights violations. Where Fairtrade certified actors breach human rights in Fairtrade Standards, we seek to protect the impacted persons and facilitate effective corrective measures,\u201d says Tytti Nahi, Lead on Business and Human Rights at Fairtrade\u2019s HRDD Centre of Excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe commit to aligning our policies and processes with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). For example, we seek to undertake a novel, Fairtrade-wide and UNGP-aligned Human Rights Impact Assessment in 2021,\u201d Nahi continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fairtrade is a human rights-based movement and certification scheme. It is rooted in the initiative of Mexican indigenous communities and coffee farmers in 1988 to receive fairer prices for their product. Today, half the decision-making power in Fairtrade is held by networks of African, Asian and Latin American farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe see development as a process of social empowerment and redistribution of power \u2013 not as a technical exercise. That\u2019s why we support farmers and workers to get organized, take collective action and seek a stronger say in their supply chains and societies,\u201d explains Mary Kinyua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fairtrade sees the binding due diligence regulations that the EU and several governments are preparing as a big step forward. \u201cMandatory Human Rights Due Diligence can be a real turning point in addressing human rights violations in global supply chains. We work to support this,\u201d says Kinyua. \u201cFor so many decades, we, other human rights organizations, and trade unions have urged companies to pay attention to farmers\u2019 and workers\u2019 rights. Finally, governments are increasingly demanding this, too\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HRDD is a practice of identifying, addressing and accounting for the adverse impacts that the operations and value chains of an organization may have on human rights. Companies have been increasingly expected to engage in HRDD since consensus was reached on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCurrent policies and initiatives are woefully inadequate to protect human rights in global supply chains. Due diligence on human rights and the environment must become mandatory for companies\u201d, says Nahi. \u201cAmbitious, multi-stakeholder initiatives can then support companies in the implementation as well as farmers and workers in claiming their rights. We work to connect farmers and workers with companies and support both to mitigate salient human rights harms, including environmental harms, in the supply chains we work with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fairtrade commits to bringing the voices, knowledge and experiences of farmers and workers to commercial and political HRDD discussions and to advocating for the creation of meaningful, bottom-up HRDD practices and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany farmer groups fear that northern companies will not recognize and act on their contribution to human and environmental rights violations, but cross the HRDD expectations off by evading lowest-income areas and just including tighter requirements into their codes of conduct,\u201d says Konstantina Geroulakou, Social Compliance Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC). \u201cThat would cut many vulnerable farmers and workers out of supply chains through no fault of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe must ensure that HRDD changes power relations and enable farmers and workers to stand up for their rights\u201d, emphasizes Marike de Pe\u00f1a, Chair of CAN, a cluster of Fairtrade\u2019s three producer networks. \u201cHRDD must entail dialogue between farmers, workers and companies in the South and North, supply chain investments to address the root causes of human rights challenges and a fairer division of value in supply chains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It starts with commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.fairtrade.net\/news\/fairtrade-commits-to-business-and-human-rights-principles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 14 Sep 2020 Today we publish our Human Rights Commitment, clarifying our understanding of our … CALLING FOR BINDING REGULATION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ADVOCATING FOR MEANINGFUL HRDD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n