Celebrate International Human Rights Day with your holiday purchases
Look out for The RugMark logo on carpets that are manufactured without using child labour or sweat shop labour As the Christmas season descends upon us, most of our friends and family here in North America tend to focus their attention on one thing: shopping! Shopping isn’t a bad thing, especially when the motivation behind our holiday purchases is to make others happy. On the other hand, we rarely take the time to think about how our consumerist culture affects people around the world.
Consider this for a minute: In countries like India, between 75 and 90 million children are working as child labourers. \ [1].
What does this have to do with our spending here, you ask? Well, recently it was reported that at least 200 of the 2,000 manufacturers that supply a well-known clothing store are located in India, some of which send children as young as 10 to work. [2]
The bad news is that these stories, though not always in the media, reflect a reality that is far too common. Many of the stores that we shop at every day are doing business in a way that is having a negative impact on our planet and the people who live here.
The good news is that in choosing where you shop and how you spend your money, you can change the world by influencing companies to do business differently. Websites like www.responsibleshopper.org, campaigns like RugMark and the various fair trade logos that are found on items we buy all give us the information we need to make responsible shopping choices.
December 10 is International Human Rights Day—a day to remind us that all over the world people’s rights are being taken for granted, especially those of children. It also challenges each of us to protect those rights so each member of our global family can live a life of dignity.
This holiday season, take a little extra time to do some research on creative ways to show you care. Making socially aware shopping choices will feel like giving a gift to the entire world!
Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network. |
