This year’s The Body Shop Christmas gift tags will support the rights of Indigenous Australians
The Indigenous-Australian-designed gift tags are just $2 and all the proceeds will go towards improving the conditions for Indigenous children in Australia.
Every year since the 1990s, The Body Shop has partnered with Amnesty International to raise money during Christmas. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of Christmas gift cards and gift tags are donated back to the human rights organisation. Because what better time to give back than Christmas?
This year, The Body Shop and Amnesty International have decided to focus on supporting a cause close to home. This year's gift tags are designed by talented Indigenous artist Emma Hollingsworth and 100% of the proceeds donated will go to support the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In particular, the funds will go towards Amnesty's work to raise the age of criminal responsibility and will help support equality, justice and freedom for Indigenous children, with a focus on kids at risk of being trapped in the youth justice system.
The 2019 Christmas Gift Tag features a hand-painted design by Hollingsworth which she has titled "Believe". The design will be available at all The Body Shop stores in Australia from 29 October for $2 each, or 3 tags for $5. So even the earliest and most organised Christmas shoppers will be able to get their hands on the beautiful, heart-warming designs.
It's a cause close to the hearts Australia. Between 2016 and 2017, Indigenous children made up 69% of 10-13 year olds in prison – children as young as 10 years old locked up. Raising the age of criminal responsibility is an important step to reducing the over-representation of Indigenous children in the Australian prison system.
"Amnesty International Australia has been campaigning for some time to raise the age – we know locking kids up causes serious harm at a crucial time of development, when kids are being shaped into the adults they will become," Amnesty International Australia Indigenous rights manager Tammy Solonec said.
"Children often get caught in the quicksand of the justice system and find it hard to pull themselves out; and Indigenous kids are 25 times more likely to be locked up than non-Indigenous kids.
"The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory identified that most children did not reoffend when they received the support and services they needed through community-based alternatives, in particular diversion," Solonec said.
"We know these are better, more effective solutions than locking kids up."
You can read more information about the cause, the artist Emma Hollingsworth and the gift tags here.
