How does Fairtrade mitigate violations in global supply chains?

Why do some businesses continue their pervasive use of vast and opaque supplier networks, prioritizing efficiency of cost and time over sustainability and transparency? How can governments fulfill their responsibilities to protect human rights? What is the role of private standard setting initiatives like Fairtrade? This is the backdrop of our publication. The publication offers three cases to discuss the human rights challenges that are salient in Fairtrade’s work: 1. Bringing a living income to cocoa smallholder farmers and workers in West Africa; 2. Remediating child labour on sugar cane farms in Belize; and 3. Addressing the implications of climate change in coffee production in Central America. It also reflects on Fairtrade’s alignment with the human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) approach.