Authors: Solidaridad Europe Senior Policy Advisor Gert van der Bijl and Managing Director Heske Verburg.
Solidaridad is an international civil society organization that develops fair and sustainable supply chains in more than 40 countries around the world. It is inspired by 50 years of solidarity with resource-poor producer communities.
In our new joint paper with the Office of Fair Trade Advocacy and the Rainforest Alliance, Legislative influence (Signed by various international civil society organizations also from the global south), We call on the European Commission to ensure that the upcoming mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) legislation covers the interests of smallholder farmers in all regions of the world. In addition, the European Commission should recognize that poverty is the root cause of many human rights violations and negative environmental impacts in the global value chain that the legislation aims to address.
To ensure inclusiveness, the obligation to cooperate must be an important part of due diligence legislation and should be added as the fourth pillar UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Following the current three pillars: the obligation to protect, the obligation to respect, and the obligation to remedy. This fourth pillar should incentivize companies to work with suppliers to bring about positive changes and improve the livelihoods of farmers, workers and miners. The EU, companies, and all stakeholders in the value chain must recognize that sustainable development is not a free rider and take corresponding actions.
Recognize poverty and cooperate with producers
HREDD legislation is a landmark opportunity to promote respect for human rights and the environment in the global value chain, make responsible practices a legal norm, and resolve unfair procurement practices by creating a level playing field for companies. But the question is: how can we ensure that this legislation truly has the expected impact on smallholder farmers and truly reduces poverty while respecting the environment?
The first step is to recognize that smallholder farmers are an important part of tackling persistent poverty and creating inclusive and sustainable value chains. The EU must give priority to this when formulating legislation with a truly sustainable and inclusive impact. Although smallholder farmers can become active promoters of sustainable development, they often lack the conditions for sustainable production of products. The EU due diligence regulations will have a huge impact on their livelihoods.Their livelihoods deteriorated Yes A huge risk, because compliance with and supervision of EU requirements will bring additional burdens and additional costs, which are usually transferred to the weakest link in the chain. Suppliers are squeezed between conflicting needs: deliver at low prices while adhering to strict standards and being monitored. The EU must provide smallholder inclusive legislation as part of a combination of smart measures to ensure proper conditions are in place.
Main recommendations for inclusive legislation
So far, the debate on HREDD legislation has focused on stopping bad practices. Focusing on this will only cause supply chain participants to become risk-averse, which may even cause the value chain to shift from participants in a fragile state. This is why it is necessary to ensure that the HREDD legislation includes the rights and interests of these small farmers; recognizes the importance of living income and living wages; and does not lead to further poverty and small farmers being excluded from the supply chain.
Our joint document Legislative influence It is strongly recommended that the legislation and accompanying guidelines should:
- Pay attention to living income, living wages and responsible purchasing practices to reduce the poverty of small farmers.
- Encourage lasting trade relations and continuous improvement of global value chains.
- Rights holders (including smallholders) are required to participate and actively cooperate in all stages of the human rights and environmental due diligence process. Special emphasis should be placed on contact and cooperation with stakeholders who face greater barriers to participation, such as women in producing countries.
The EU should cooperate with the governments of producing countries
On October 11-14, CSR Europe hosted 2021 European Sustainable Development Goals Summit, Allowing more than 200 sustainability leaders to participate in various panel discussions and round tables on climate action and just transition topics. Heske Verburg, Managing Director of Solidaridad Europe, speaks at the high-level plenary meeting Flexible and inclusive supply chain, Emphasizing the importance of inclusive due diligence legislation, which prioritizes the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and combines them with appropriate supporting measures.
Verburg urgently calls on the EU to work closely with the producing countries to achieve a truly sustainable and inclusive impact. Because yes, we can strive for inclusive legislation for smallholders, but this is only one element of the puzzle. Without the right tools to provide support to producing countries and key players in the supply chain (such as smallholders), The legislation was dead on arrival.
In order for this ingenious combination of measures to be effective, the EU needs to work with producing countries to develop and implement a roadmap to help producers, small farmers, factories and small mines comply with EU requirements after due diligence legislation. These roadmaps need to be formulated and implemented with the full participation of the producers themselves and sufficient funds available. The EU should also work with producing countries and industries to promote financial incentives for smallholder farmers to shift to sustainable practices.
Work together The eradication of poverty
Small farmers are Responsible for producing the third An important part of the world’s food supply and plays an important role in the global value chain.However, around 63% of the world’s extremely poor people work in agricultureMany of them are small farmers. Sunday, October 17th is an annual International Day for the Elimination of PovertyOn this day, the United Nations will focus on the global poverty rate and the actions necessary to solve this problem. There are more than 1.4 billion people living in persistent poverty worldwide, and millions of people have fallen into poverty due to the Covid-19 pandemic.In our new publication, we join the international community in calling for action to eradicate poverty and the urgent need to eradicate poverty Work together.
To learn more about the work of Solidarity, please visit www.solidaridadnetwork.org.
