Lecture Description
The presentation will educate attendees on the rapid evolution of human rights and labor due diligence requirements in major coffee importing countries, the potential implications to coffee companies, and the steps that companies can take to meet these requirements, while at the same time supporting farmers to improve working conditions in coffee farms. Verité will present on the evolving legislative landscape, its research on labor issues in coffee regions in Latin America, and the ways in which this creates legal and reputational risks for coffee companies. Verité will also share concrete recommendations for companies on developing and implementing robust human rights due diligence systems, open-source tools and resources to help companies reduce labor risks, and cost effective approaches to address labor risks, based on lessons learned from our pilot projects in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico under the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Cooperation On Fair, Free, Equitable Employment (COFFEE) Project.
Date: Friday, June 23, 2023
Time: 11:45am - 12:45pm EET
Location: Lecture Room 1
Presenters:
Quinn Sandor Kepes
Senior Director, Verité
Quinn Sandor Kepes is a Senior Director at Verité, where he has worked for over 15 years on labor issues in the coffee sector and a number of other sectors across the globe. He has directed a number of company, foundation, and government-funded projects to identify, address, and prevent labor violations in the coffee sector and currently oversees the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Cooperation On Fair, Free, Equitable Employment (COFFEE) Project. Mr. Kepes has conducted and directed field research on labor issues on coffee farms in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, and Uganda. He leads Verité’s Applied Research for Evidence and Action (AREA) and Worker Agency, Voice and Empowerment (WAVE) practice groups.
Miguel Zamora
Managing Director, Rural Voices/Verité
Miguel has been involved in agriculture for 25 years. His work focuses on fostering regenerative agriculture, strengthening sustainable supply chains and creating opportunities for sustainable trade between farming communities and the food industry.
With Rural Voices CIC, Miguel focuses on amplifying the voice of farming communities, so the perspective of farmers and farmworkers is included in the discussions and decisions of the sustainability initiatives led by food companies, governments, and civil society organizations.
Miguel supports Verité’s efforts to define good practice and create open-source resources to help companies, suppliers, and other stakeholders eliminate labor abuses from global agricultural supply chains.