Enslaved Children Freed After Being Forced to Make Christmas decorations

[Rosemary]

" there are some tell-tale warning signs American consumers can be on the lookout for if they wish to avoid purchasing products made with child labor. First, she says, if the holiday decorations you are purchasing are not labeled with the country they are made in you might want to be concerned. Next, she says if they have an unusually low price and are marked as "hand made" it is another red flag."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/enslaved-children-freed-after-being-forced-to-make-christmas-decorations-potentially-headed-for-us-194625049.html

The irony of Christmas ornaments made in China and India has bothered me for a long time (people paid poorly to make decorations for a holiday that isn't in their own tradition, so that we can celebrate peace and goodwill?) ... and this makes it even worse.

[Mrs-M]

Sickening!

The main problem I see with this, Rosemary, is too gentle a punishment for those behind such despicable acts.

[Mrs-M]

Beneficial relation to countries that harvest/embrace such deplorable ideals, i.e., caging children, honour killings, etc, at least it makes it easy for people like me to banish such places from possible vacation destinations.

[Zoebird]

True. And so sad. We buy from the fair trade shop or source fair trade when we purchase something. I try for local artisan made, too.

I was also hoping that this would be a joke, becuase when I was a kid, I hated making the christmas decorations for the classroom or to take home. I've never been quite so crafty. And I was always looking forward to recess. Or holiday break.

Have I always been a humbug?