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!
They say that it’s better to give than to receive. And as much as we do like to receive… we have to agree on the greater joys of giving. That’s why, this holiday season, we want to offer you twice the joy through twice the giving opportunity.
It comes without ribbons. It comes without tags. It comes without packages, boxes or bags.
It’s Freedom for women being trafficked into the commercial sex industry. The opportunity to be rescued before they ever see the inside walls of a brothel. The opportunity for hope and a future free of slavery.
When you give a gift of Freedom on behalf of your loved ones, you give a gift of freedom for Nepali girls. Because every donation will be compiled to open a NEW Border Outpost to rescue girls in 2010.
Holiday Giving as Easy as 1…2…3
1. Click HERE to make a Holiday gift to Nepal in the name of your loved one.
2. Receive a confirmation email with a special link to download and print your Gift of Freedom card.
3. Fill in the “to,” “from,” and gift amount, then experience the joy of giving!
About Not For Sale Nepal:
It is estimated that up to 15,000 women and girls are trafficked from Nepal into India’s illicit sex industry every year.
At Not For Sale Nepal, women rescued out of modern-day slavery are employed at Border Outposts, where they work on the ground to intercept and rescue other Nepali girls from entering the nightmare of a life in bondage. Last year alone, these Border Outposts prevented 1800 girls from being trafficked into India!
Many more must be rescued in 2010… and your gift is making this possible.
This holiday season, gifts like yours will enable us to build a new Border Outpost. Not only will this Outpost employ 8 additional survivors, it will also prevent hundreds of their sisters from ever seeing the inside walls of a Mumbai brothel. Instead these girls will have a future, these girls will live in Freedom.
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.
One Day’s Wages, which is raising funds to build a Border Outpost to rescue girls at Not For Sale Nepal, is featured for its work in the New York Times.
Check out ODW Founder Eugene Cho’s interview with David Batstone!
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
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