Each Christmas since the early 1990s, the Body Shop has supported Amnesty International by selling Christmas cards and gift tags in it’s Australian stores. Every year, 100 per cent of the proceeds are donated back to Amnesty so they can continue campaigning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights.
The funds from this year’s collaboration will be specifically going towards Amnesty’s efforts to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old to 14 years. The campaign is helping to support equality, justice and freedom for Indigenous children and draw attention to kids who are trapped in the youth justice system.
This year, gift tag features an original hand-painted design by Indigenous artist Emma Hollingsworth, who is an Aboriginal artist based out of Brisbane. The artwork she created for the collaboration with The Body Shop is titled ‘Believe’ and represents human connection and empowerment.
Raise the age
Across Australia, children as young as 10 years old are currently being placed in juvenile detention. Between 2016 and 2017, 69 per cent of children in prison between the ages of 10 and 13 years old were Indigenous. Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years would be a significant step in reducing the over-representation of Indigenous people in the Australian prison system.
Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Manager, Tammy Solonec says, “We know that locking kids up causes serious harm at a crucial time of development, when kids are being shaped into the adults they will become.
“Children often then 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 Body Shop will be selling the gift cards in all their Australian stores from October 28th. The tags cost between $2-$5 and all proceeds are donated to Amnesty.
