3071-The political economy of new slavery

228 Modern Slavery and Fair Trade Products
The co-operative has about 126 members and is located in the Toledo
region of Belize, which is the poorest district in the country. In 1992–3
Belize cocoa farmers were forced to abandon cocoa production due to
a dramatic fall in prices. Fortunately, the UK chocolate company Green
& Black’s offered a long-term contract for a stable supply of quality
cocoa. They agreed to buy all the cocoa TCGA could produce at a
price above the market price. The cocoa was used to create Maya Gold
Chocolate, which was introduced in March 1994 bearing the Fairtrade
Mark, denoting Fair Trade certification in the UK. For many individual
families, Fair Trade premiums have meant the difference between being
able to send children to school and having to keep them at home
to work.
The above examples illustrate how Fair Trade directly improves the
lives of farmers and their children and how it contributes to the
prevention of slave labour and child labour. However, in 2002, out of
89 million pounds of cocoa produced by Fair Trade co-operatives only
3 million pounds were sold at Fair Trade prices (Global Exchange [c]).
This shows that the share of the Fair Trade cocoa market is still very
small, and that Fair Trade needs to be supported.
TARA projects, India
TARA (Trade Alternative Reform Action) Projects Association provides
support services to the production and marketing of handicrafts on Fair
Trade lines, and also looks after the community developmental needs of
grassroot craftspeople to help them gain awareness, rights and human
dignity in an area of approximately 200 kilometres in and around Delhi
in north India. The goal of TARA is to
fight exploitation and poverty of crafts-people and their communities
who do not have any dignified identity and face inhuman exploitations
and injustices in the traditional production and trade system.
The project seeks to combat exploitation and poverty through fair
trade, political and social lobbying, campaigns and rallies, education
and proper development of crafts-communities.
TARA
TARA Projects has been a leading advocate for the elimination of child
labour in India.
TARA 2 earns enough money from its trading activities to fund some
social development projects, like education centres. Such centres, for