Fair Trade – to the benefit of all

In the global trade system all nations are treated as if they were equally strong. This is disastrous for Developping countries  since they have to compete with rich industrialised countries. Bread for all engages for fairer rules in international trade, conveys fair trade within Switzerland and thus creates a new model for economic activities.

Developed countries and transnational corporations govern the global economy in their own interests. For the developing countries this has disastrous effects. The liberalisation of markets did cost the sub-Saharan economy about 272 billion USD in the last 20 years. This amount would have allowed the region to absorb all its foreign debts and to provide vaccine and school enrolment to every child.

To give developing countries a real chance in the global economy, trade must be reorganised. Fair rules in the global trade system are only possible if human rights and poverty reduction are not undermined at the same time. Developing countries should be enabled to codetermine rules of international trade and to defend a policy space in the interest of their own economy and population. overnments should take the civil society seriously.

Bread for All is co-founder of Max Havelaar Foundation, Claro, STEP, TerrEspoir and the Fair Wear Foundation. Thanks to those initiatives, the Swiss have the highest per capita consumption of fair trade products.

Since the launch of the Clean Clothes and the Computer campaigns by Bread for all and The Swiss Lenten Fund, labour conditions in the clothing and the computer industries have been gaining importance to Swiss consumers. More advanced corporations react with codes of conduct – ad serious implementation systems - for themselves and their suppliers in order to guarantee the compliance with internationally recognized labour rights.