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August 05, 2009

Fair Trade in your S'mores via Mainstream Nat'l Vendors

The International Labor Rights Forum has a new campaign to promote fair trade chocolate in your summer s'mores, and are petitioning HERSHEY to go fair trade. They link to this list of Where to Buy Fair Trade Certified TM Products... with a lot of big box and corporate franchises that are doing the vending. This is their suggestion on how to respond to companies who say:

Fair Trade does not guarantee that child labor is not used.
No certification system can provide a 100% guarantee, but the elements of Fair Trade standards work together to lead to improvement in farmers’ lives and reductions in labor rights abuses like the worst forms of child labor. Fair Trade standards prohibit the worst forms of child labor and forced labor and include a monitoring system. The additional components such as the price premium and the democratic cooperative structure also help to contribute to higher labor standards on Fair Trade certified farms. The increased transparency in Fair Trade supply chains helps companies to develop closer relationships with farmers and to work with them on improving living and working conditions. Fair Trade cooperatives are inspected annually.

Posted by cat at 10:34 PM