Published on Saturday, November 28, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
By David Batstone, President of Not For Sale, and Bama Athreya, Director of the International Labor Rights Forum
When is a bargain not a bargain? When someone else’s child pays for our kid’s gift.
This holiday season not every child will be free to play with new toys… Read the article here!
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Not For Sale has partnered with the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) to help consumers like you learn more about how the companies making your favorite products are working to address forced and child labor.
On the new Free2Work.org, you can see how the companies you buy from rank in terms of their actions to eliminate forced and child labor. It’s a great way to make informed decisions about the products you purchase while finding ways to support an end to these labor rights abuses.
The new program rates companies by a common standard, evaluating corporate policies, code implementation, employee empowerment, child labor response, supplier impacts, transparency, and (when applicable) industry-specific data — outlining all efforts and shortcomings. Companies are rated from an “A” to “F.” The highest grade, A, goes to brands that champion a living wage and democratic worker organizations. The lowest grade, F, goes to brands that do nothing to review or improve conditions of suppliers.
Free2Work.org is not another corporate “gotcha” tool for consumers. Instead, Free2Work strives for transparency and engagement with companies to evaluate them on the information they make public. Fourteen initial companies were rated, and the majority fell within the average range. While all have a code of conduct and had taken positive action, they lacked a comprehensive approach and still require a deeper level of transparency.
Stateless people born into ethnic minorities are not recognized by the Thai government as citizens, and thus not eligible to receive health care or education. Often these marginalized communities are forced to enter the illicit drug trade or sell their children out of desperation to survive.
1.9 million dollars worth of medical supplies has been donated to NFS Thailand on behalf of humanitarian aid organization, Giving Children Hope. With the support from Call+Response to offset the costs of shipping the donation finally arrived in Thailand. Now, NFS Thailand is partnering with the local Thai government run hospital to initiate a progressive cooperative for improving the health and quality of life of women and children in the border region.
The medicine received by Not for Sale Thailand will be stored at and administered by the hospital. With the donation the hospital will be able to serve not only the 155 children in the general care of Not for Sale Thailand but also other stateless people in need of medical services free of charge.
These stateless populations are excluded from society. They lack the ability to protect their young children who often die from preventable diseases and have no access to family planning methods or information regarding how to protect themselves from HIV and STIs.
This comprehensive progressive plan to provide health services to marginalized populations in the border area is a innovative solution in the prevention of trafficking and the after care of survivors. Thank you to all who participated in making this project a success.
Congratulations to Max Baucus (D) and Charles Grassley (R) for sponsoring a U.S. Customs bill that bans the import of all goods made with convict labor, forced labor, or forced or indentured child labor. The bill requires that a newly created office in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) annually report to Congress… on the volume and value of goods made with child labor, forced labor or convict labor that have been stopped at the border.
Click HERE for Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC report.
Title: NFS-GA Backyard Abolitionist Tour
Location: North Avenue Presbyterian Church
Link out: Click here
Description: Free to the public. For more information, contact Pattie Harrelson at 678-517-4429.
Start Time: 07:30 PM
Date: 2009-11-12
Title: NFS-GA Backyard Abolitionist Tour
Location: Dalton First Presbyterian Church
Link out: Click here
Description: Free to the public. For more information, contact Pattie Harrelson at 678-517-4429.
Start Time: 07:00 PM
Date: 2009-11-11
Title: NFS-MA| Backyard Abolitionist Tour
Location: Holy Cross
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2009-11-09
Title: NFS-MA| Backyard Abolitionist Tour
Location: Boston University
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2009-11-08
This week an interview of NFS-Tennessee Co-director, Derri Smith aired on 78 radio stations throughout the Tennessee Radio Network!!
The interview will also be playing on three Nashville stations later this month on the show, “Music City Magazine.”
Listen to the interview – click HERE!
Want to hear more? Click HERE to view an incredible interview of Derri on OpenLine Tennessee as she talks about the issue of modern-day slavery, and what NFS-TN is doing in their state to combat it.
Tennessee officially carries the nickname of, “The Volunteer State.” Visit www.notforsaletn.org to see why!
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