What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a new model of international trade that provides a clear and just alternative to the free trade system. Fair Trade embodies a cooperative effort among producers, consumers and distributors that works to promote and insure:
- Fair Prices for farmers and workers in developing countries.
- Fair labor conditions that include making a living wage and safe working conditions. Forced child or sweat shop labor is strictly prohibited.
- Direct Trade between producers and importers eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowers producers to develop the business capacity to compete in the global marketplace.
- Democratic and transparent organizations in which farmer and workers decide together how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
- Community Development projects that invest in the local social, educational and business development.
- Environmental sustainability that resists harmful treatment of the land and engages farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
Why Fair Trade?
The economy should work for people, and not the other way around
(Economic
Justice for All). This simple phrase, written 20 years ago
by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, conveys succinctly the core insight of
Catholic Social
Teaching on the economy. Over and over again, during
more than 100 years of theological reflection and writing on modern economic
issues, the Catholic Church has confirmed that the constitutive
purpose
of the economy is to serve the common good. The
market cannot legitimate itself. The economy is legitimate in our
Catholic tradition only to the extent that it meets the material needs
of every member of our human family and the moral demands of justice
and solidarity.
In every celebration of the Eucharist bread and wine are offered to God
who is the source of all creation. All that we have and all that
we offer is a gift from the earth and the work of human hands. When
we share in the Body and Blood of Christ we participate in a communion
with God and with brothers and sisters around the world. This "catholic" communion
will influence our worldview, our relationships and our actions in the
world.
In Economic Justice for All, the US Bishops ask us to reflect on three questions as a way to measure the human, moral and Christian dimensions of our economic and consumer life: What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it?
Fair Trade creates an opportunity for us to respond to this call in a way every day through the choices we make as consumers. When we make the conscious decision to purchase Fair Trade items, we are putting the values of our Catholic faith and Catholic social teaching into practice. We also contribute toward realizing the vision of economic justice in our time.
Through our purchases of Fair Trade items we:
- Exalt the HUMAN DIGNITY of small-scale producers overseas;
- Exercise a preferential OPTION FOR THE POOR;
- Act in GLOBAL SOLIDARITY with our brothers and sisters in need;
- Ensure that workers, farmers and artisans earn a JUST WAGE;
- Contribute to a more just DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH;
- Apply the principle of SUBSIDIARITY; and
- Practice responsible STEWARDSHIP of our natural resources.