Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

I am not writing to ask for gifts.

I am writing on behalf of the hundreds of millions of children who do not have Christmas — and whose lives are stolen from them every day.

Around the world, nearly 400 million children are forced to work instead of being free to play and dream. 300 million children lack access to education. 140 million children toil in the supply chains of corporations.

Tens of millions of them labor in dangerous conditions — on cocoa farms, coffee plantations, fields that produce fruits, flowers, and vegetables, fishing boats, mines, and factories — creating enormous wealth for wealthy adults who will never know their names. These children do not write to you, Santa. No one told them they could expect justice.

No one told them the world cared.I have dedicated nearly 12 years of my life to defending them. World leaders speak of values, responsibility, and hope. They attend summits, panels, and festive gatherings where morality is spoken fluently — yet many of the fortunes funding those celebrations are built on the systematic exploitation of children and slaves. Take Norway, for example — a country that prides itself on human rights.

Its sovereign wealth fund, NBIM (Norges Bank Investment Management), now overseen by CEO Nicolai Tangen, profits from hundreds of corporations whose supply chains rely on child labor and forced labor to cut costs and increase profits. This is not ignorance. It is documented. It is known. It is tolerated. Norway’s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, leads a government that should protect children’s rights and human rights— yet child labor and forced labor persist in Norway's investments . Norway’s Constitution explicitly protects children’s rights. Its laws and International Law prohibit profiting from exploitation.

And yet, its Parliament, the Norwegian media, and UN organizations allow this to continue. All governments are committed to eliminating child labor and forced labor by 2025, yet not a single one has a real plan. Today, child labor and forced labor exist even in the supply chains of UNICEF, ILO, UNDP, OHCHR, and all other UN organizations, due to their complicity with corporations. This is not a charity failing. It is a duty abandoned.

Then there is the World Economic Forum, claiming to “Improve the State of the World,” while celebrating hundreds of corporate actors whose business models rely on exploitation and who benefit from the labor of children and slaves.

Under the presidency of Børge Brende, speeches about sustainability and ethics are delivered, while nearly 75 million children continue to be exploited for the benefit of 2,500 WEF participants, hidden from public view thanks to the complicity of hundreds of journalists.

Protect these children from the UN organizations, NGOs, and churches that partner with corporations, pretending to fight poverty, eradicate slavery, and end child labor, while being funded to conceal exploitation so profits continue. Santa, children are not a side issue.

They are not collateral damage. They are not a footnote to growth. No amount of fake ESG or SDG language, or hollow pledges, can erase a stolen childhood.So this year, I request: Help us end child labor — not with slogans, not with gradualism, not with excuses — but with courage.

Remind politicians that their obligation is legal, not optional. Remind corporations that profit does not absolve responsibility. Remind global leaders that credibility is lost the moment a child is sacrificed for profit . Remind journalists that their obligation is to expose and denounce injustice, not to praise it or cover it up. Children do not need gifts made by other children.

The poorest children do not need pity. They desperately need justice, protection, education, and enforcement of all laws that protect their rights. Santa, as you know well, the end of poverty, child labor, and forced labor in corporations is possible with new business models created to generate prosperity in supply chains. If Christmas miracles still exist, let this be one: that the adults who run the world finally choose to protect all children who inherit it.

And for the New Year, Santa, I also ask for a miracle that 2026 will finally end the “appalling indifference of the good people” toward the poor and exploited children and slaves whose labor produces what all of us consume.

That would be the greatest gift of all — a true gift of justice, courage, and humanity. With determination, moral clarity, and an unshakable belief that this is possible,

Yours,

Fernando Morales‑de la Cruz

* Fernando Morales-de la Cruz is a journalist, human rights advocate and Editor-in-Chief of the Lewis Hine Org and Cartoons For Change. For more than a decade he has investigated and documented the economic systems that profit from modern child labour and inequality in global supply chains. He lives in Strasbourg, France.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.