I wish you all a merry, ethical Christmas,

Photo credit; Ian Muttoo

There's so much to think about at Christmas. "Is this the right gift?" "Am I getting good value for money?" "Should I choose the blue one or the red one?" "What the heck do I get my co-worker?"

I had some other questions on top of those. "Who made this?" "How were they treated?" "Were they a slave?" 

That sounds drastic, but in today's world, it isn't. There are more slaves today than ever before. And I hate to say it, but our need for cheap, junky nick-nacks to give our co-workers is fueling this problem.

And, I hate to say this more, but I can't even tell you how to choose things that weren't made by slaves. It would take months of research, resources and information I don't have access to, I'd have to give you specific brand names, and then I still couldn't be one hundred percent certain. 

But, what I can give you is a list of questions to ask to help you decide if the gift you're looking at is worth buying, plus a few suggestions.

1. Where was this made, and what is the state of human trafficking in that country?

The country of manufacture that's stamped on the back of the box doesn't tell you everything. There've been instances of factories in the United States enslaving workers. The only thing is that if it's made in a country with widespread slave labour, or widespread slave labour, you can put it down, and try to find an alternative. But how do you know if there's widespread slave labour in Moldova? You pull out your smart phone and google it. "Labour trafficking in Moldova" I favour gifts that were made locally. I love buying things off the person who made them. They're not always as expensive as we think, and much more special. However, quite often, buying things from other countries can have a really positive effect on their economy, which can help them grow out of economic problems. This is more effective, however, with fairtrade products, or those produced by a company based in that country. 

2. What was this made with, and where did that come from?

While I was buying jewelry for my sister this year, I asked where it was made. One seller said it was made in Latvia. "Okay," I thought, but then I wondered where the silver was mined. This is quite often impossible to tell, but it's important because in many areas, children drop out of school to mine, and mining often involves climbing down unstable holes, and working with tough chemicals like mercury. If you can find out, and the metal was mined in a place like Australia, it's probably not mined with slave labour. Please stay away from African gold. When you've seen pictures of children playing in mercury, you won't want any. Another option is fair trade and cetified metals, but since at the moment, they're rather expensive and tend to come with really nice jewelry, not the mid range jewelry I'm giving my sister. I didn't find out where the metal in her earings did come from, I resorted to the third question.

3. At this price, am I giving the economy room to grow?

Sometimes even brands that sell pricey clothing have some trafficking problems in their supply chains. It can be disappointing to find out that my label jacket was made in the same place as that cheap one. But what I ask when I feel I don't have better options is, if I'm spending this amount, am I feeding the demand for cheap things, which feeds the demand for unpaid labour? Am I giving the companies excuses to say "People don't want to spend more than $2.50 on a towel." We have to use slave labour to stay afloat."? I'm not suggesting we pay an unreasonable amount of money, I'm saying we think about what is the reasonable amount of money this should be worth relative to how long it could have taken to make, and what it's made out of.

4. Have I let the manufacturer know that I care about ethics?

Every company should be working toward eradicating the use of slave labour anywhere in their supply chain. Sometimes, when we can't find an alternative, then writing to a company and saying that you care about ethics can help. Something along the lines of; "I am a customer, in fact, I bought a soft toy from you, and I hope you are actively working to stop the use of slavery in your supply chain." The person reading your letter or email may or may not know what your talking about. You can give them a link to Made in a Free World, which has software made for busiesses to help them combat the issue. You can also send them to Stop the Traffik for information, and can use Stop The Traffik's website to send emails to many companies. 

Some tips
For those of you who now aren't sure what to get your co-workers since you put down that snowglobe, here are my tips. 

1. Make it yourself. 

If you want an inexpensive gift that's also special, making it yourself is a great option.
Some good gifts to make are

• Fudge, chocolates, or other sweets, -Use organic sugar and ethical chocolate
• A home made Christmas ornament,
• An iced fruit cake, -try to trace which country the fruit was grown in or buy fair trade dried fruit if possible.
• re-pot some seedlings as a gift. -buy several flower seedlings, and place them in second hand pots. Children can help decorate old pots or if you're arty, you could turn them into something really special.
• Build a candy despensor and put fairly traded sweets in it instead of the m&ms in these instructions. (Video also shows how to make some other chocolate gifts. Candy despensor is at the 10 minute mark.)
• knit or sew a clothing item using recycled wool or wool that's made in your country.

2. Fairly traded. 
Several kinds of certification exist, fair trade, ethical choice, ect. These items are not garenteed to be trafficking free, but are usually a better choice than other ones.

Where I live, In New Zealand, there is a brilliant shop chain called Trade Aid. I love to buy gift cards from here and send people in to see what a cool collection of stuff they have. Everything is certified fairtrade, and food products are organic.

3. Vintage.
I actually quite often buy second hand items that are still good to give as gifts. Thrift shops often have jewelry, soft toys, old style plates and cupboard items, and the money usually goes to charity rather than to companies that source items from sweatshops or slave labour using sources.

4. Give to charity.
I feel like this is the ultimate gift for co-workers. In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, some charities sell cards that represent a donation given on a person's behalf instead of getting a gift from them. We can choose what the money is spent on such as livestock, education, or health, and recieve a card representing what can be done with the amount of money that was gifted. This is the one gift on this page that not only doesn't contribute to slavery, but can actually prevent it!