The Plight of Coffee Refugees: Many of the Migrants Who Died Crossing the Arizona Desert Were Small Farmers Fleeing Low Crop Prices

Coffee Prices, Now at a Historic Low, Are Contributing to

Social Tensions around the Globe

Human Rights Group Says It Is More Important Now Than Ever That Consumers Embrace Fair Trade Coffee

During the last week international attention has focused on the deaths of 14 migrants in the Arizona desert along the US-Mexico border. Those deaths are a clear example of the social dislocations caused by plummeting coffee prices around the world, human rights activists are now saying. According to the Associated Press, at least seven of the 14 men who died crossing the border were coffee farmers from the Mexican state of Veracruz who were forced to leave their communities in search of higher wages in the US because they could no longer support their families. The deaths of those "coffee refugees" shows development schemes promoted by the World Bank are harming family farmers and that US immigration policies are dangerously misguided, human rights activists say. And those deaths also put new urgency on the call for US consumers to embrace "Fair Trade Certified" coffee.

"The deaths of the coffee refugees is a tragic example of how the volatility of the commodity markets, border control strategies, and World Bank policies are contributing to senseless sacrifice," says Deborah James, Fair Trade Director at Global Exchange, an international human rights organization that promotes Fair Trade coffee. "The men who died on the border lost their lives in an effort to support their families because they could no longer make a living on their farms. The coffee we enjoy every morning is tainted with suffering."

Coffee is the second most heavily traded commodity in the world, and an estimated 20 million families around the globe support themselves by farming the crop. In recent months coffee prices have plummeted to historic lows of below 60 cents a pound, pushing already-poor farmers to the brink of disaster. According to a just-released report by the aid agency Oxfam International, the price slump is contributing to social tensions, instability, poverty and forced immigration in countries that depend heavily on coffee revenues. In Africa, the price crash has exacerbated strains between Hutus and Tutsis. In Colombia, the effort to limit coca production is hindered by the flood of out-of-work coffee growers. And in Mexico media reports say that tens of thousands of people who once made their living on coffee farms have migrated to the nation¹s major cities or the US.

Overproduction by Vietnam is largely responsible for the drop in prices. Vietnamese exports have tripled in the past five years, flooding world markets and driving down prices. The World Bank has encouraged increased Vietnamese coffee production by giving loans to the government there.

"Unfortunately, the World Bank apparently still thinks that pitting poor countries against each other is a development strategy. It¹s not‹it¹s a recipe for social instability and poverty," says James. "Why do we still allow 99% of the coffee sold in the United States to be purchased at prices that impoverish farmers and force them to leave their communities and risk death in the desert when the Fair Trade alternative is so close at hand? By buying Fair Trade coffee, which guarantees farmers a living wage for their harvest, consumers can support farmers and help prevent tragedies like the one that just occurred in Arizona."    ###