International Criminal Court (ICC)
Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo
Prosecutor
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
Re: Mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers, coffee plantation workers & their families worldwide.
Dear Sir,
I hereby respectfully solicit the urgent intervention of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to prevent and to put a definite legal end to the currently ongoing mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation workers and their families worldwide.
In fact, as you may know, the coffee sector has collapsed worldwide following a crash of coffee prices on the world market from 2000-2005, reaching their lowest levels in over a century in 2001, leading to the economic ruin and the mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation workers and their families in more than 50 coffee producing & exporting countries around the world.
Cynically, however, meanwhile coffee multinationals, traders and retailers are making millions in profits each year from coffee sales worldwide...
As Mr. Nestor Osorio - Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) - himself clearly stated:
“The world coffee economy has evolved over the last few years in a manner which may be qualified as erratic, disorderly and even contradictory. The relative supply scarcity of the mid 1990s, caused largely by climatic conditions, was followed by a short period of moderately high prices that compensated for the losses incurred by the dismantling in 1989 of the International Coffee Agreement’s quota system. However this situation prompted a surge in production that altered substantially the global supply structure and was the cause of the worst coffee crisis ever seen in terms of growers’ incomes.
In contrast, the evolution of the coffee economy in importing countries has shown a completely different and in fact very positive pattern. The industry has flourished, new products have been developed, the value of the retail market has more than doubled, and profits have risen. This is something to celebrate, but the question must nevertheless be
asked as to how long such a state of affairs can be sustained.
The extent of the drop in prices and earnings in the crisis years 2000 - 2004 is very clear In the ten years 1980 – 1989 the ICO Composite Indicator Price for coffee averaged127.92 US cents per lb. and coffee-producing countries earned an average of US$10.2 billion in annual export revenues from coffee. In the five years 2000 – 2004 the average price had dropped to 54.33 cents - the lowest in real terms for 100 years - and annual export earnings to US$6.2 billion.
Certainly the figures for coffee are clear : In the late 1980s and part of the 1990s earnings by coffee producing countries in terms of exports f.o.b. were around US$10-12 billion per year but they have now dropped to around US$5.5 billion. This contrasts with the continued growth in the value of retail sales in consuming countries from around US$30 billion in the 1980s to around US$80 billion at present." Nestor Osorio, Executive Director, ICO.
Source: www.ico.org
Summary outline of the root (economic) causes of the crash in coffee prices and the resulting collapse of the global coffee sector.
1) Market imbalance & structural over-supply
Short, medium and long-term market imbalance between supply & demand, resulting in a structural over-supply of coffee on the world market, which in turn translates into low, constantly declining, and non-remunerative real coffee prices which do not reflect or take into account real production costs.
As Mr Nestor Osorio – Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization - clearly stated:
“The coffee price situation arises from an imbalance between supply and demand that has now lasted for four years, exacerbated particularly by substantial increases in production (compared with the early 90s) and slow rates of increase in consumption.” Nestor Osorio, G8 Summit, June 2003
“I believe that the real challenge is to develop policies and actions to avoid a recurrence of the type of imbalance between supply and demand that gave rise to the crisis. There is no doubt that the overriding need at present remains to guarantee the future of coffee through addressing the problem of economic sustainability, i.e. to ensure that coffee
production does not continue to entail a loss to growers. It follows that the strongest priority is to implement measures which encourage balance in the market.”
For many months now the ICO has attempted to alert the international community of the
consequences of a problem caused in essence by the continued excess of supply over
demand. It is vital not to lose sight of the pressing need to take substantive measures to maintain greater market equilibrium. However I must reiterate that the main priority must be measures which can actually restore some market balance.” Basically the process of analysis has been completed and must now give way to implementing solutions.”
Nestor Osorio, extract of speech made at the 2nd World Coffee Conference, 2003
source: www.ico.org
In fact, statistical data collected and published by the ICO clearly reveals a structural long-term market disequilibrium between supply and demand, worsened by exponential increases in production by both Brazil & Vietnam from 1997-1999 - within a background of stagnant demand/consumption - resulting in a structural over-supply of coffee on the world market ( + 30 million bags), which in turn directly led to the crash in coffee prices observed from 2000-2005, leading to the collapse of the coffee sector worldwide and to the (ongoing) coffee “crisis” which led to the economic ruin and the mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation workers and their families in more than 50 coffee-producing & exporting countries around the world.
Vicious trap cycle
To make up for the loss in revenue resulting from low and constantly declining real prices of coffee, farmers produce and export more coffee, which in turn results in creating a further excess supply of coffee on the world market, further reducing both world coffee prices and farm gate prices, thus further marginalizing and impoverishing both coffee farmers and coffee producing & exporting nations, in conformity with King’s Law of Demand.
King’s Law of Demand
King’s Law of Demand clearly states that a surplus/deficit in a commodity will lead to a proportionally greater decline/increase respectively in the price of the said commodity relative to the surplus or deficit. (i.e. a surplus of 10% in the supply of coffee will lead to a decline of more than 10% in the price of coffee, and vice versa.)
Tragically, however, both historical evidence and statistical data clearly reveals that the ICO has in fact not only been ignoring this crucial economic law, but has in fact deliberately developed, pursued and implemented economic policies contrary to this economic law over the last +17 years since the collapse of the supply management mechanism in the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) in 1989, digging the mass graves of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation workers and their families worldwide in the process…
This is a vicious and deadly trap cycle which MUST be broken.
As the Brandt Commission wrote and warned 30 years ago:
“ Structural over-supply in the commodities markets lies at the heart of global poverty and instability” (Willy Brandt, Brandt Report).
2) Speculative trading
Coffee prices are characterized by extreme volatility and instability due to speculative trading of coffee on the futures commodities exchange markets of London and New York, which is based on speculative forecasts of future market fundamentals such as supply & demand, world stocks, climate and geopolitical situation in coffee producing countries, currency exchange rate fluctuations, oil prices, etc., which in turn set and determine coffee prices on the world market which do not reflect or take into account real production costs, again contrary to classic economic law which clearly states that:
“It is production costs, not the interaction between supply and demand that sets and determines prices of commodities.” David Ricardo, Principles of political economy and taxation.
3) Currency exchange rate fluctuations
Currency exchange rate fluctuations have a direct impact on both the price and the cost
of coffee and thus on the revenue and profitability of both coffee farmers and coffee producing & exporting countries. As you know, the US dollar has lost over 30% of its value vis-à-vis the Euro since 2001/2002. Since coffee is quoted and sold in US dollars, a devaluation of the US dollar translates into a decrease in real revenue for both coffee farmers and coffee producing & exporting countries, with resulting devastating economic, social and political consequences for coffee producing and exporting nations.
4) Increase in the price of oil
The price of crude oil is another crucial determining factor in the costing and profitability of coffee farmers and coffee producing & exporting countries. As you know, oil prices have exponentially increased over the last 6 years – from $US 20/barrel in 2001/2002 to over $US 130/barrel in July 2008– significantly increasing the cost of production of coffee farmers in the process, as prices of inputs have skyrocketed.
The deadly combination of the devaluation of the US dollar and the exponential increase in the price of oil over the last 6 years exponentially increases the cost of production of coffee producers on the one hand, while significantly decreasing both the real price of coffee and the revenue and profitability of coffee producers on the other.
Surprisingly and tragically, however, the newly drafted 2007 International Coffee Agreement (ICA) does not contain any provisions to address and resolve the above briefly-outlined crucial economic factors which have directly led to the collapse of the coffee sector and to the consequent economic ruin and the mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation workers and their families around the world over the last 8 years.
The (official) stated mission of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) & the International Coffee Agreement (ICA)
International Coffee Organization Mission Statement
“ The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is the main intergovernmental organization for coffee, bringing together producing and consuming countries to tackle the challenges facing the world coffee sector through international cooperation. It makes a practical contribution to the world coffee economy and to improving standards of living in developing countries by:
• enabling government representatives to exchange views and coordinate coffee policies and priorities at regular high-level meetings
• improving coffee quality through the Coffee Quality-Improvement Program and specific projects
• increasing world coffee consumption through innovative market development activities
• initiating coffee development projects to improve quality and marketing
• encouraging a sustainable world coffee economy
• working closely with the private sector through a 16 strong Private Sector Consultative Board which tackles issues such as food safety
• providing objective and comprehensive information on the world coffee market; and ensuring transparency in the coffee market through statistics.
Source: www.ico.org
International Coffee Agreement 2007
“The International Coffee Agreement 2007, the seventh Agreement since 1962, was agreed by the 77 Members of the International Coffee Council, meeting in London on 28 September 2007. It was formally adopted by the Council through Resolution 431. The Agreement will strengthen the ICO’s role as a forum for intergovernmental consultations, facilitate international trade through increased transparency and access to relevant information, and promote a sustainable coffee economy for the benefit of all stakeholders and particularly of small-scale farmers in coffee producing countries.
The new Agreement is an important instrument for development cooperation and will provide the legal framework for core activities undertaken by the Organization in the future. Around 15 of the ICO’s 45 exporting Members are least-developed countries (with low incomes and high economic vulnerability), and the 25 million small coffee farmers and their families who produce 90% of the world’s coffee are particularly affected by fluctuations in market prices and imbalances in supply and demand. The Preamble specifically acknowledges the contribution of a sustainable coffee sector to the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, particularly with respect to poverty eradication.”
Source: ICO website www.ico.org
Strangely, however, while the 2007 International Coffee Agreement aims “ to promote a sustainable coffee economy for the benefit of all stakeholders and particularly of the 25 million small coffee farmers and their families who produce 90% of the world’s coffee who are particularly affected by fluctuations in market prices and imbalances in supply and demand”, the 2007 ICA does not contain any provisions to address and resolve “fluctuations in market prices and imbalances in supply and demand”, which have directly led to the collapse of the coffee sector and to the economic ruin of millions of coffee farmers worldwide, throwing them and their families deeper into mass poverty and untold misery.
Moreover, both historical evidence and statistical data collected and published by the ICO on the coffee sector clearly reveals that the ICO and its members have in fact done nothing over the course of the last 17 years - since the collapse of the supply-management mechanism in the 1989 ICA- to achieve market equilibrium between demand and supply and to secure stable and remunerative coffee prices for millions of coffee farmers around the world, contrary to their official stated mission and to the deceitful poverty eradication rhetoric preached in their official literature.
In fact, statistical data collected and published by the ICO clearly reveal a short, medium and long-term market disequilibrium between supply and demand worsened by politically financed, motivated, supported and encouraged exponential increases in production by both Vietnam and Brazil from 1997-1999 (+30 million bags) within a background of stagnant consumption , resulting in a structural over-supply of coffee on the world market in 1999/2000 (coffee excess stock levels: +60 million bags = +50% of annual demand), which in turn inevitably led to the crash in coffee prices observed from 2000-2005 and to the subsequent economic ruin and the mass economic genocide of millions of small coffee farmers, coffee plantation laborers and their families worldwide.
Worse, although both the root economic and political causes leading to the collapse of the coffee sector have been clearly identified by the ICO and their members and repeatedly debated over the last 7 years in numerous ‘high-level” international conferences and forums by governments, industry leaders, NGO’s, academics, etc., it is tragic and criminal to witness that no solutions have been developed and implemented to this day to resolve the root causes which led to the global coffee “crisis”, so as to prevent it from happening again. As noted above, the root economic causes which have led to the collapse of the coffee sector and to the ruin of millions of coffee farmers worldwide are not even addressed in the new 2007 International Coffee Agreement, which has been approved by the Council of the ICO last September 2007 and is currently in the process of ratification by member States of the ICO and due to come into effect in September 2009.
As Nestor Osorio himself clearly stated:
“For many months now the ICO has attempted to alert the international community of the consequences of a problem caused in essence by the continued excess of supply over
demand. The problem was analysed in depth at the World Coffee Conference in 2001, more recently at a Round Table held jointly by the ICO with the World Bank in May 2003 and at regular sessions of the International Coffee Council. The issue has been raised at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, with the governments of developed countries and with international bodies such as the WTO. Although a number of interesting ideas have emerged, it is vital not to lose sight of the pressing need to take substantive measures to maintain greater market equilibrium. Basically the process of analysis has been completed and must now give way to implementing solutions.
The situation revealed here, taken from the perspective of poverty reduction, is
clearly a matter of concern. The impact on poverty of the coffee price crisis, which lasted nearly 5 years from 2000 to 2004 and has only to a modest degree been reversed, has been well documented. *Evidence provided by coffee producing countries to the ICO is compelling (*see copy attached)
The economic impact of coffee on many producing Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) can scarcely be exaggerated. In 1999, before the crisis years, coffee exports
accounted for over 50 per cent of the export earnings of four African LDCs, Burundi,
Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. It has been estimated that some 125 million people
worldwide are dependent on coffee. For several countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America where coffee accounts for a large percentage of exports it has been estimated that losses in earnings from coffee have more than nullified total aid inflows in terms of value.
Coffee farmers have shown enormous resilience and one way or another most have managed to survive and continue to produce. But not all and not at any cost. It now seems likely that, if ways are not found to improve trading conditions in producer countries, this precious commodity, and what is worse, the human beings who grow it, will progressively decline to the point that, in a not too distant future, there may be insufficient coffee and certainly an insufficient quality range of coffee, to trade and to drink”. Nestor Osorio, Executive Director, ICO
Source: www.ico.org
In view of the very real threat and the serious danger posed on the lives of millions of coffee farmers worldwide, I strongly feel that legal action must urgently be taken by the ICC to legally prevent and to put a definite end to the ongoing mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers, coffee plantation laborers and their families around the world, and to bring those responsible for this “crime against humanity” to justice.
In my view, there is no fundamental difference between the mass political and/or war -related genocides such as those which occurred during the Holocaust, in Rwanda, Darfur, etc. and the mass economic genocides occurring daily with total impunity throughout the so-called Third World as a direct result of aggressively oppressive, highly exploitative and profoundly unfair global trading rules and practices developed, pursued, implemented and imposed by a few States, corporations and organizations to the rest of the world.
Indeed, there are far more economic genocides occurring daily worldwide, with total impunity and with far greater casualties and victims. The only difference between the political and/or war genocides and the economic genocides, is that while in the former the victims are exterminated using physical violence and weapons, victims of economic genocides are exterminated through more subtle but equally deadly economic and financial weapons, and usually die anonymously and silently far away from the mass media attention that victims of political and/or war genocides receive…
As Mahatma Gandhi rightly stated:
“You cannot build a non-violent society based on exploitation.
Exploitation is the essence of violence”
The lives of billions of people worldwide are at stake.
As Nestor Osorio himself rightly stated and warned:
“ The adversity endured by coffee growers in Africa, Asia and Latin America has also been encountered in other agricultural commodities originating in developing countries. In fact the drop in earnings from these commodities constitutes one of the most important causes of world poverty. Several studies coincide in assessing the fall in prices of the major agricultural commodities as between 50 and 86 per cent in the last 20 years, with coffee showing the greatest fall. This loss in income has had a significant impact on the economic and social life of many developing countries.
And as the Brandt Commission wrote and warned 30 years ago:
“ Structural over-supply in the commodities markets lies at the heart of global poverty and instability” (Willy Brandt, Brandt Report, North-South/Common Crisis).
“This issue highlights the role of international commodity bodies such as the ICO in the
context of genuine partnership between developed and developing countries since these
bodies represent a unique forum where all stakeholders are represented on an equitable basis and where the needs and priorities of the major players can be fully represented.”
Nestor Osorio, Executive Director, ICO
Source: www.ico.org
In view of the above and “taking into account the gravity of the crime and the interests of victims and of justice,” I hereby respectfully solicit the urgent legal intervention and support of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court – within the framework of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction in accordance with the Statute of Rome with respect to the “ Crime of Genocide” and “Crimes Against Humanity” - to 1) prevent and 2) to put a definite legal end to the currently ongoing mass economic genocide of millions of coffee farmers and coffee plantation laborers and their families worldwide and to bring those responsible for this “crime against humanity” to justice. “
Please find below a copy of correspondence exchanged between myself and the ICO on the issues raised above as well as a copy of the new 2007 International Coffee Agreement currently being ratified by member States. Detailed information on the ICO and statistical data on the coffee sector can be found at: www.ico.org.
Also, please find attached a copy of report submitted to the ICO by coffee producing countries on the devastating economic, social, ecological and political consequences of the coffee “crisis” in their respective countries.
More detailed information on the coffee “crisis” and its disastrous impact on the lives of millions of coffee farmers and coffee producing & exporting countries can, of course, be found over the Internet.
I remain at your entire disposal for further information.
I thank you for conducting a preliminary examination into this case and I look forward to hearing back from you in the near future.
Truthfully,
Arya A. Tajdin
Founder & Executive Director
Yajna Centre
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Enclosed:
1) Copy of correspondence exchanged between myself and the ICO on the coffee “crisis”
2) Copy of report submitted to the ICO by coffee producing countries on the devastating economic, social and political consequences of the coffee “crisis” in their respective countries.
3) Copy of 2007 International Coffee Agreement
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