The FTAO, in collaboration with RIPESS, hosted an online panel discussion on “International trade and transformative economies”, as part of the virtual World Social Forum on Transformative Economies on 29 June 2020.
The climate change and COVID-19 crises show us that conventional global value chains have negative impacts on people and planet and that excessive reliance on global value chains can be a risk. Calls are being made to switch to a local economy. Yet, what would a total localisation of trade mean in terms of global social justice? What are the alternatives to our current system of corporate driven globalisation? These were the questions that drove the discussion.
Speakers included:
Notes from the panel discussion are available here, a recording of the panel discussion is here.
Blog on the occasion of the release of the Univerity of Greenwich report ‘Making human rights due diligence frameworks work for small farmers and workers in global supply chains’. read more
On 3 June, a group of 53 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from across the political spectrum wrote a letter to Commissioner Sinkevičius, Hogan, Reynders, and Urpilainen endorsing civil society’s approach to rethinking the global textile value chain. In their letter, MEPs stress the “need to adopt a truly comprehensive approach that deals with the various issues highlighted in [the] civil society strategy, including human rights, environment, governance, and gender”. read more
On Thursday, 23 April 2020, The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) along with a diverse coalition of civil society organisations, launched the ‘shadow strategy’ for fair and sustainable textiles. The strategy lays out a set of recommendations for the European Union to address the various challenges of textile value chains, including environmental sustainability, human rights, governance, labour rights, and gender among others read more
The World Fair Trade Organization and Fairtrade International, supported by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, have issued the following joint statement in relation to the upcoming G20 Action Plan in response to Covid-19. read more
The FTAO met with a delegation of cocoa producer cooperatives from the Ivorian Fair Trade Network (RICE), visiting Brussels for the Salon du Chocolat, on the 17 February 2020. This was a great opportunity for FTAO, and the other CSOs in attendance, to hear about how the policy issues that we engage with relate to the reality on the ground in producer countries.
The cooperative representatives expressed their support for a more sustainable cocoa sector and welcomed the interest that the EU has shown in making environmentally and socially sustainable cocoa supply chains a reality. read more
This week was marked by two back-to-back events organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the European Commission around their EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award.
On Tuesday, 4 February, the Commission hosted a launch event for the second edition of the award in Brussels. It was an opportunity to reflect on key takeaways from the 2018 award, to provide information for applicants, and to discuss how the award is promoting and enabling the uptake of fair and ethical trade on a local level. read more
Today, the 22 January 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in collaboration with the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, hosted a debate with the title “Value chains: How to share benefits more equitably” at the UNCTAD Headquarters, the United Nations Office in Geneva. This event takes place as follow-up to the framework of cooperation signed in October 2018 between UNCTAD and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, a joint initiative of Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organization. read more
The think tank ECDPM has been commissioned by Oxfam-Magasins du monde, the World Fair Trade Organization-Europe and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office with the task of developing a comprehensive study on the textile supply chains. Sewing the pieces together: Towards an EU strategy for fair and sustainable textiles, is a research paper which assesses the available options for the EU to put in place an ambitious and integrated EU strategy in support of fair and sustainable textile supply chains. read more