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Invest in change this Black Friday!

Deals, deals, deals. Black Friday has become synonymous almost the world over with discounts designed to reel us in to buy, buy, buy. While we shop, we worry if our favorite brands are complicit in forced labor.  

That’s why we’re asking if this Black Friday you can donate to the platform powering campaigns to hold companies accountable?
Donate the price of a t-shirt
If just 1,000 of you donate $10, you’ll help us reach our $10,000 goal! 

Clothes, smartphones, chocolate, make-up… so many of the products we enjoy are at risk of being produced by people forced to work for little or no pay in inhumane conditions. The problem runs so deep, and accountability mechanisms for governments and businesses are so weak, that forced labor is now rife in the supply chains of the products we love.  

Forced labor of Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim minorities at the hands of the Chinese government is endemic in northwestern China. Over one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained since 2017 and despite mounting evidence of egregious human rights abuses including forced labor in cotton goods, household fashion names like Zara, Nike and Uniqlo still haven’t committed to exiting the Uyghur Region.[1] 

Nobody wants to buy clothes made with forced labor – keep sustaining the movement for systemic change 

Together, we are powerful. The Freedom United community has been busy this year and we are seeing progress!   

In January, Marks & Spencer signed our coalition’s Call to Action and became the first major fashion brand to publicly commit to end all sourcing from the Uyghur Region. Shortly after, ASOS, Eileen Fisher, WE Fashion, Reformation and TFG Limited also committed to ending all sourcing from the Uyghur Region!  

And just last month, bolstered by more than 80,000 of you, we sent letters to five influential shareholders of Nike ahead of their annual general meeting, urging them to vote yes to a proposal that would require Nike to publish a human rights impact assessment on its entire supply chain. Over a quarter of Nike investors voted in favor of the proposal!  

By donating to Freedom United, you give us the ability to sustain campaigns to secure global progress like this, helping create a world in which people are more resilient to modern slavery and more empowered to demand better working conditions. 
Make a donation
Your support means we can utilize the latest in digital technology tools, optimize our website to ensure your platform is working smoothly, and deploy an expert team of campaigners poised to identify critical campaigning moments to reach more people and build our collective power.  

Can you donate the price of a t-shirt this Giving Tuesday for a future with products free of forced labor

 Above all, we’re grateful that we can count on you to use your voice to call out exploitation – thank you for all the ways you take action to end modern slavery.   

Let’s continue ending modern slavery together.  In solidarity,   

Joanna, Carmel, Allan, Krysta, Jamison, Monica, Miriam and the Freedom United team  

Joanna Ewart-James
Executive Director, Freedom United

[1] https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/free-uyghurs/

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