Today, the International Co-operative Alliance is among the more than 250 organizations around the world uniting to launch an International Fair Trade Charter. It sets down the fundamental values of Fair Trade and defines a common vision towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Business as usual will not deliver the step change needed to meet the SDGs, adopted by the world’s nations. Far from marching a steady course to reach these global goals by 2030, in some areas we are even going backwards. A recent United Nations report shows that hunger has actually risen in the past three years after a long period of decline, leaving one in nine people undernourished (The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018).
The International Fair Trade Charter sets out a different vision: a world in which justice, equity and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures, business models and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full human potential.
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Aims of the Charter
The Charter, initiated by Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organization, has three main aims:
- To support the work of Fair Trade Organizations in raising awareness among consumers and citizens of the importance and impact of Fair Trade, so that more people will be inspired to join and support it.
- To facilitate collaboration among Fair Trade Organizations by connecting their specific missions and strategies with the common philosophy of the movement, and to promote collaboration with the solidarity economy, organic agriculture movements and others that fight for similar goals to the Fair Trade movement.
- To enable others who work with Fair Trade Organizations (in government, academia or the private sector) to recognise the values and approaches that unite the global movement.
“Putting fairness and equality first, cooperatives around the world are allowing people to create sustainable enterprises that generate long-term jobs and prosperity. That’s why we are natural partners of the International Fair Trade movement and we support the Charter defining a common vision towards achieving the SDGs”, has said the Director General of the ICA, Bruno Roelants.
In the online platform ‘Co-ops for 2030’ (www.coopsfor2030.coop), created under the ICA – EU partnership #coops4dev, there are many examples of how cooperatives are pledging to achieve SDG objectives that might serve as an inspiration to others.
The global Fair Trade movement urges policy-makers, business leaders, citizens and consumers to embrace the vision of the International Fair Trade Charter, to create a global trading system populated by supply chains and models of business that leave no one behind.
To learn more about the International Fair Trade Charter, visit www.Fair-Trade.website
