Bridging the Gap:

Trade as a Tool for Development

by Alexandra Buck,

Facilitator for Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Program

Bridge of Hope just sent nearly 30 boxes of Peruvian artisan goods to Partners for Just Trade. Thanks to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which went into implementation on February 1st, 2009, the products were duty-free. That means we saved nearly $700! Which is a big number for a not-for-profit whose retail mark-up is only 3.25% when the fair trade industry standard is 6%.

With Free Trade Agreements like the one between the United States and Peru, consumers and importers usually do benefit. Lower prices on the tag means greater sales and higher profits for middlemen. The producers don't receive those benefits; rather, they are exploited for cheap labor to maximize profits. Luckily, in our case, we know that the "middleman" is not only socially responsible but fully dedicated to trade justice. The tax savings won't be pocketed by a few intermediaries, but rather invested to improve the organization and the wellbeing of the artisans.

We get excited to sell more because we know each sale has real impact on the artisans who made the goods. The artisans work in safe, healthy conditions in solidarity groups that manage their own prices, accounting, and schedules. They practice respect, transparency, and equality. Often, when people look at the price, they don't think about the cost. The fact that an item is cheap means the amount paid does not equal its value.

Trade is more than an economic transaction: it is a relationship between producer and consumer. As Christians, we are called to be in right-relationships, to practice shalom with our neighbors. In this globalized world, our neighbors include everyone from the person next to us in the pew to Jobita, a Peruvian artisan women living in a shanty-town of Lima.

If trade is a relationship, we need to commit to making that relationship one that is just, transparent, mutual, and respectful. Fair Trade is one model that promotes this kind of life-giving relationship. It is an alternative to the dominant economic model based on individual profit where a few elites hoard wealth while the majority live in poverty.

In Peru, around 85% of the population lives in poverty. And yet, the Peruvian economy is cited as one of only two Latin American countries that has seen growth this year through the economic crisis (Colombia is the other).

Where is this growth? Rather than experiencing the benefits of Free Trade, most small producers feel its negative effects. That is, when big corporations come to Peru, whether for wood from the Amazon (think Bagua in June), minerals from the Andes (see Doe Run in La Oroya), or artisan work from the communities, they think in terms of profits. Multinational corporations pay the lowest possible wages, cause environmental devastation, and exploit labor rights. This is the cost of Free Trade.

For artisans, export companies take advantage of their economic need and use their labor without providing any training for independent business development. Artisans in the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade program from the group El Mercurio in Huancavelica have even experienced that representatives ask them for product samples, then offer a meager per piece wage. The Fair Trade artisans refuse to work at these wages, knowing their rights, and the companies take the samples (without paying) and go to other artisans who, out of desperation, work for nearly nothing. These companies don't have limited budgets; they are seeking the most profit, but at the expense of the producer.

The United States Government Accountability Office released a report this August to examine bilateral Free Trade Agreements, and the bottom line is that while FTAs include provisions for promoting labor and environmental rights, they are not being enforced. This leads us to conclude that all the current FTAs need to be reassessed.

A new piece of US legislation proposes just that. Called the TRADE Act (Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act) H.R. 3012. It is a way of ensuring that everyone benefits from a trade relationship. It takes a new look at existing trade treaties and sets up structures to enforce respecting labor rights, environmental protections, community development, and local government sovereignty. It is a step closer to a national policy of Fair Trade, of which 72 US Congress people are vocal sponsors.

Find out what kind of relationship your Congress person believes in, and talk to him or her about the values you hold for your neighbors in Peru. An improvement in trade policy would mean a life with more dignity not just for the 250 Bridge of Hope artisans, but all artisans, farmers, and producers in Peru. And it would mean you, the consumer, have peace of mind that your purchase serves the interests of the workers and not just the corporations.

Celebrate International Trade Action Day, October 12th, by communicating with your legislator about trade values. PCUSA has developed an Action Letter ready for you to sign and send, based on GA policy and Christian values of justice and solidarity.

Support a Fair Trade Agreement.

Call or write to your Representative today.

For more information, see http://www.citizen.org/trade/

Six new, fresh faces arrive in Peru

by Debbie Horne, YAV Site Coordinator

We are happy to announce the arrival of six new Young Adult Volunteers to the Joining Hands Network in Peru! They began their journey on September 1st in Lima, where they spent two weeks of Orientation before heading out to their placements throughout Peru with partners of the Network.

• Alissa is serving with Radio Cultural Amauta in Huanta, helping them develop radio programs for children, youth and women.
• Annais with CEDEPAS in Huancayo working with organic farm development and Fair Trade.
• Ginna and Joe are in Lima. Ginna is working with Fraternidad Cristiana Vida, serving church communities, and Joe is sharing time between the Joining Hands office and CENCA in the area of urban development.
• Sarah C. is with Paz y Esperanza in Huánuco, working with them to help end violence and sexual abuse against women and children, as well as accompanying victims of violence, and
• Sarah T. is living in Huancavelica, participating in the rural development projects of ATIYPAQ.

Along with Jed Koball and Alexandra Buck as the Joining Hands mission workers, all at the Network are pleased for their energy, spirit, and willingness to serve. Please pray for their learning and yearning as they adapt to living in Peru.

News items from Gidding-Lovejoy

by Mark Strothmann Coordinator, JH Giddings-Lovejoy

1.  Mark Strothmann of Brentwood, MO has been appointed as the Presbytery's new Joining Hands coordinator. Contact Mark by e-mail

2.  We are looking forward to Jed Koball's  itineration throughout our Presbytery Oct. 9-15.  We are excited by the many invitations he has received to speak across the Presbytery.

3.  Four members of our team (along with Jed) are planning to attend the World Mission Conference in Cincinnatti Oct. 22-24.

4.  Our partners in Peru have raised up a new issue for consideration, Water Rights and Justice and International Climate Change.  We are organizing a delegation to go to Peru in April to discuss with them the development of a new campaign on this topic.  

What do you mean: Development?

by Alexandra Buck, Facilitator for Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Program

In Peru as in the world, the notion of development is under debate:

• For the Peruvian government and multinational corporations, development means the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement with tax benefits and investment openings. It is seen in the 0.9% growth of the Peruvian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2009, even during the international financial crisis. Development is sought by opening the Amazon to wood harvesting and the Andes to mineral extraction by large multinational corporations.

• For the citizens of Peru, 84% of whom still live under the poverty line, this kind of development does not benefit them. Rather, they live the negative affects of such initiatives: labor exploitation by companies who would rather profit than pay a reasonable wage to workers; pollution and lead poisoning due to resource extraction; environmental destruction and loss of biodiversity, especially in the rainforest; displacement from rural lands to urban squalls; decreased autonomy in local governments; dependency on foreign companies for employment and increased informal labor.

• Especially for indigenous communities in Peru, like those from the Amazon, development is not synonymous with Legislative Decrees authorizing foreign investment of the rainforest. The Legislative Decrees that were fast-tracked through the Peruvian Congress were elements to enforcing the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement.

Quelled protests

Indigenous communities were not consulted in the new legislation that affects their ancestral land. They felt they were inimical to their wellbeing, so they protested the laws. The government, in the name of development, quelled the protest with force, leaving many indigenous protestors and police dead.

President Alan Garcia made clear that the protestors were obstacles to development. The same argument was used to legitimize the suspension of seven Congress members who spoke in favor of the indigenous communities and happen to themselves be indigenous.  For three months, their voices representing indigenous communities have been silenced from public debate.

UN Investigation

By signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, ratified in September 2007, the Peruvian government committed to protect the rights and sovereignty of indigenous communities. After the events in Bagua, UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya conducted an investigation and declared serious abuses against the indigenous population by the part of the policy force. Peru is also a signer of the International Labor Organization's Decree 169 which affirms indigenous people the right to their ancestral lands.

Frustrations and dismay

In his annual national speech on National Independence Day at the end of July, President Garcia spoke of inclusion and reconciliation, a discourse criticized by many who say that government actions do not represent this rhetoric. He also conspicuously omitted mention of the environment, reinforcing to Peruvians that this is not an issue of priority for the government. The workers party (CGTP) also felt unsatisfied with the message, saying that although Garcia touts many achievements, the working class has not benefitted.

For the same feelings of frustration and dismay, the workers party organized a series of protests and strikes in the recent months. Mostly affecting transportation and certainly disadvantaging the mobility of the vast majority of Peruvians, strikes are a common method to call the government's attention to serious concerns by specific sectors. The first strike paralyzed all transportation throughout the country: few public buses or taxi services ran in Lima proper or within and between provinces. While the strikes did not directly deal with policies of trade, the broad participation and random violence (burning tires, throwing rocks, etc.) can be seen as an effect of anger, frustration, and hostility against the government because of recent policy decisions.

Conflicting interests

The majority of the Peruvian population doesn't feel that their interests have been consulted or met under the current official vision of development.  While the government welcomes in foreign investment for natural resources, Peruvian communities cry out for protection of the environment, respect for local government, preservation of indigenous cultures, and better labor rights.  These same cries were heard in the process of creating the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, but elements relating to such practices were cut for the final, ratified version.

The United States Government Accountability Office released a report this August to examine bilateral Free Trade Agreements, and the bottom line is that while FTAs include provisions for promoting labor and environmental rights, they are not being enforced. This leads us to conclude that all the current FTAs need to be reassessed.

Support US TRADE Act

A new piece of US legislation proposes just that. Called the TRADE Act (Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act), it would implement a system to re-assess and re-negotiate existing trade treaties with measures of labor, human rights, environmental, political sovereignty, and gender protections. It is based on campaign promises by Barack Obama to take a new look at the current trade policies. This past week, however, at the recent summit of the US, Canada, and Mexico ignored the theme of NAFTA entirely.

Find out what kind of relationship your Congress person believes in, and talk to him or her about the values you hold for your neighbors in Peru. An improvement in trade policy would mean a life with more dignity not just for the 250 Bridge of Hope artisans, but all artisans, farmers, and producers in Peru. And it would mean you, the consumer, have peace of mind that your purchase serves the interests of the workers and not just the corporations.

The TRADE Act was presented in the House with 106 co-sponsors. With Congress back from recess, they will again take up the issue of trade. As a US citizen with a voice in democracy, it is important to share your opinion with your representatives. Take the opportunity to call or write in support of the TRADE Act using this letter from the PCUSA Washington Office. True development cannot ignore human rights, the environment, labor laws, and democratic participation.

The PCUSA's 3-5 April fast concentrated on the topic of Climate Change and Water with Peru as the country of focus.

Find in the PCUSA's Fast archives a collective account of the story of how water flows from one mountain area of Huancavelica to one lowland desert area of Ica — from the indigenous lands above occupied through centuries of care and tradition down to the corporate lands below who hope to generate economic growth for years to come.