Sales of Fairtrade coffee, chocolate and tea have continued to soar over the last year – with total sales exceeding $7.5 million in 2007. Sales of Fairtrade coffee alone have grown by a whopping 3,404% since 2004. ...
... If you were offered a $1 in exchange for a 50 cent coin – would you make the trade?
Check out this surprising Fairtrade clip on Youtube.
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Hello Julian,
This is Eilleen from Consumption Rebellion. You recently wrote on my blog regarding a post I made back in January 2007.
You asked me in your comment how I came about my research and the list I had made.
The research I did was a combination of reading about the Cocoa Initiative, the Harken-Engel Protocol and mailing each of the chocolate companies that I have bought in the past.
I also researched organic certification systems (there are 3 in Australia) and found out that at the time of writing that post, there were no certified organic farms in the areas known to use child-slave labour. As a result, by default they did not use child-slave labour but only by virtue of the organic certification process, NOT because it was a requirement to adhere to human rights laws... with the exception of the Australian Certified Organic system that does require some basic protections for employees (ie that they are paid a wage. Note that this does not mean they are paid a living wage. However, in terms of slavery, it does mean that these people are not slaves as defined in international law).
The other thing that was of interest was that it was obvious in their replies to my letters which companies who were taking the Cocoa Initiative and the Harken-Engel protocol, a bit more seriously than those companies who were not. Many of the companies who made it at the bottom of my list were quite dismissive of my concerns, while the ones who were second from the bottom at least took the time to write lengthy replies.
Finally, my post is quite old now and I have been meaning to update it, though it may take me some time as the first process took awhile too.
Anyway, I wish you well in your endeavours to promote fairtrade in Korea. Please let me know if I can be of any further help.
Eilleen
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