Author Archives: Coffeelands

Brazil’s Congress convenes hearing on modern slavery in the coffee sector

2016-06-09 Comments Off on Brazil’s Congress convenes hearing on modern slavery in the coffee sector

Next week, a public hearing in Brazil’s Câmara dos Deputados will explore the issue of modern slavery in the country’s coffee sector.  The Human Rights Commission and the Labor Commission have jointly convened the gathering, scheduled for Wednesday, 15 June at 2 pm in meeting room #9.  The event was organized by the Articulação dos Empregados […]

Brazil’s Supreme Court lifts ban on “Dirty List”

2016-06-08 Comments Off on Brazil’s Supreme Court lifts ban on “Dirty List”

Brazil’s Supreme Court has lifted its injunction on one of the most powerful and distinctive tools in the country’s campaign to eradicate slave labor, clearing the way for its reinstatement after a suspension that lasted nearly 17 months.  The “Dirty List”—a public registry of employers found by the Ministry of Labor to be employing workers […]

CRS Policy Brief: Slave labor in Brazilian coffee. (And what we can do about it.)

2016-04-13 Comments Off on CRS Policy Brief: Slave labor in Brazilian coffee. (And what we can do about it.)

When we learned in the summer of 2013 that inspectors from Brazil’s Ministry of Labor found evidence that 15 coffee farms had employed workers under what the country calls “conditions analogous to slavery,” we were shocked.  The revelation raised lots of questions: What does “slavery” mean in Brazil in 2013?  How widespread is the practice […]

Review: Danwatch exposé on slavery in Brazilian coffee

2016-03-07 Comments Off on Review: Danwatch exposé on slavery in Brazilian coffee

Last week, the Danish human rights organization Danwatch released this hard-hitting exposé on modern slavery in Brazil’s coffee sector.  Rather than summarize its key findings, we suggest anyone interested in farm labor, the future of coffee supply, or the evolving conversation on coffee sustainability should read it in its entirety.  Instead, we offer something closer […]

Too little, too late on slave labor in coffee?

2016-03-04 Comments Off on Too little, too late on slave labor in coffee?

Yesterday we published this reflection on Section 910 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015—a measure that ends coffee’s 85-year-old exemption from the U.S. ban on the importation of goods produced by slave labor. By now, most readers will have seen this blistering report from the Danish human rights organization Danwatch on […]

Washington closes forced labor loophole

2016-03-03 Comments Off on Washington closes forced labor loophole

The biggest news in coffee last week did not come out of Portland or Seattle or LA, but out of Washington: President Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 into law.  Here’s what it has to do with coffee. . .

Naïveté

2015-12-24 Comments Off on Naïveté

Before we break Christmas, a reflection on two words we don’t care for when applied to our coffee programming—“well-intentioned” and “naive”—and a perspective from Pope Francis that turns the idea of naïveté on its head.

Final Thoughts (For Now) on Modern Slavery in the Coffeelands

2015-12-21 Comments Off on Final Thoughts (For Now) on Modern Slavery in the Coffeelands

For more than a week we have been writing here about Brazil’s extraordinary effort to eradicate modern slavery, and how that effort relates to the country’s coffee sector. Today is the eighth, final, and perhaps most important post in the series. The one that answers the question, “So, what?” So, now we know this terrible […]

The National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor

2015-12-18 Comments Off on The National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor

On Tuesday, we explained here that Brazil gets high marks for enlisting businesses in the country’s campaign to eradicate modern slavery.  Yesterday we profiled in some detail one of the two instruments that leaders in the country’s private sector use in their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains: the Dirty List.  Today, […]

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