Kailash Satyarthi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2014
 
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Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday shared with Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai who was shot by the Taliban in 2012.
Mr. Satyarthi gave up his career as an electrical engineer over three decades ago to start Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Childhood Movement. Today the non-profit organization he founded is leading the movement to eliminate child trafficking and child labor in India.
Some edited excerpts of an interview with Mr. Satyarthi in 2011:
WSJ: What was your inspiration for Bachpan Bachao Andolan?
Kailash Satyarthi: I was personally concerned and involved in child rights-related activities right from my childhood. Then over a period of time I realized that it is not possible that one person can make substantial change; so it is necessary to build an organization of like minded people and sensitize other people to join. I knew right from the beginning that child labor is not just a technical or legal issue and also not merely an economic issue. It’s a combination of several things. It’s a deep-rooted social evil and to wipe it out we have to build a strong movement. Bachpan Bachao Andolan has never been a typical NGO [non-governmental organization] but it has emerged as a movement over a period of time.
WSJ: What is the child trafficking situation in India right now?
Mr. Satyarthi: Child trafficking is a serious problem and I think it’s growing fast. Intra-state trafficking within the country, for instance children who are trafficked from say Bihar or Jharkhand to Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata to big cities and towns, has been increasing. So it’s a serious problem. Not hundreds of thousands, but I am afraid millions of children are trafficked within the country every year. We can say about 50 million children are working as child laborers, according to estimates of NGOs. Out of this, 20% or about 10 million are bonded child laborers. Most of the bonded child laborers are the trafficked ones. Some of the bonded child laborers are born in bondage which means their parents were bonded laborers. In cases of children working as bonded laborers outside their hometowns and villages, they are mostly trafficked children. So at least five million children out of 10 million are trafficked and in bondage.
WSJ: Which Indian states are sources and which are destinations for trafficked children?
Mr. Satyarthi: Almost all major cities are destinations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad. These are the places where a large number of children end up and become either child laborers, bonded laborers or even in child prostitution, forced begging and so many forms of human bondage. In terms of source areas, Bihar is still on the top and Jharkhand is also another place. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal are also source areas. Actually it’s everywhere. Most of Rajasthani children are trafficked to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and other places. Most of Jharkhandi children are trafficked for domestic labor. Boys from Bihar are trafficked for newly emerging industries like the garment industry.
WSJ: Where is India positioned on the South Asian and global map in terms of controlling child trafficking?
Mr. Satyarthi: India doesn’t have strong laws on child trafficking. They have a law on immoral trafficking and that is basically for adult trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and so on. There are some laws here and there, but there are no strong and clear laws. Secondly, because of social taboos and so-called image, most local administrations and state governments don’t admit [to the problem], they keep on denying that they have a serious problem of child trafficking. But when we or someone else is able to rescue trafficked children from bondage and child labor, then only they admit. So the denial is still a big problem in many cases. Thirdly, the enforcement of laws has always been a serious problem. Whatever laws are there, they’re not implemented. Overall, we don’t see that political will which is needed for the largest democracy in the world to combat this kind of social menace and crime.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/10/10/qa-kailash-satyarthi-winner-of-nobel-peace-prize-2014/?mod=e2tw 

Kailash Satyarthi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kailash Satyarthi
Native nameकैलाश सत्यार्थी
Born11 January 1954 (age 60)
VidishaMadhya PradeshIndia
NationalityIndian
OccupationActivist for children's rights, Activist for children education
Known forActivism
ReligionHindu[1]
AwardsRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
Medal of the Italian Senate
Alfonso Comin International Award
Nobel Peace Prize
Kailash Satyarthi(Hindiकैलाश सत्यार्थी, born 11 January 1954) is an Indian children's rights activist and aNobel Peace PrizeLaureate[2]. He has been active in the Indian movement against child laboursince the 1990s. So far his organization,Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has freed over 80,000 children from various forms of servitude and helped in successful re-integration, rehabilitation and education.[3] Together with Malala Yousafzai[4], he was announced as the winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.[5]

Work[edit]

Satyarthi campaigned worldwide on social issues involving children. In 1980 he became secretary general for Bonded Labour Liberation Front / Bachpan Bachao Andolan.[6] He has also been involved with the Global March Against Child Labor[7]and its international advocacy body, the International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE),[8] which are worldwide coalitions of NGOs, teachers and trades unionists, and also the Global Campaign for Education.[9][10]
In addition, he established Rugmark (now known as Goodweave) as the first voluntary labelling, monitoring and certification system of rugs manufactured without the use of child-labour in South Asia.[11] This latter organisation operated a campaign in Europe and the USA in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the intent of raising consumer awareness of the issues relating to the accountability of global corporations with regard to socially responsible consumerism and trade.[12]. Satyarthi has highlighted child labor as a human rights issue as well as a welfare matter and charitable cause. He has argued that it perpetuates poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population growth and other social problems,[13] and his claims have been supported by several studies.[citation needed] He has also had a role in linking the movement against child labour with efforts for achieving "Education for All".[14] He has been a member of aUNESCO body established to examine this and has been on the board of the Fast Track Initiative (now known as the Global Partnership for Education).[15] Satyarthi serves on the board and committee of several international organisations including the Center for Victims of Torture (USA), the International Labor Rights Fund (USA), and the International Cocoa Foundation. He is now reportedly working on bringing child labour and slavery into the post-2015 development agenda for the United Nation's Millenium Development Goals.[16]
Satyarthi, alongwith Pakistani girl activist Malala Yousufzai, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".[17] Satyarthi is the seventhNobel Prize winner for India and only the second Indian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize after Mother Teresa in 1979.[2] Here's all that you need to know about Kailash Satyarthi:
  1. 1 A human rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of a movement in India to end child slavery and exploitative child labour since 1980. Satyarthi has helped free children from slave-labor conditions and advocated for reforms, as director of the South Asia Coalition on Child Servitude and leader of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. In 1994, he founded a group now known as Goodweave, which certifies child-labor-free rugs and provides assistance to rescued and at-risk children.
  1. 2 Kailash Satyarthi has headed various forms of peaceful protests and demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for financial gain.
  1. 3 In 1980, Kailash Satyarthi gave up his job as an electrical engineer to begin the crusade to end exploitation of children in India. As a grassroots activist, he rescued of over 78,500 children who were employed as child labours and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation.
  1. 4 He was instrumental in making the problem of child labour in India as a human rights issue. He has established that child labor is responsible for the perpetuation of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population explosion and many other social evils.

  1. 5 Satyarthi has also played an important role in linking the fight against child labor with the efforts for achieving 'Education for All'.
  1. 6 The Nobel Laureate is a member of a high level group formed by UNESCO on Education for all comprising of select Presidents, Prime Ministers and UN Agency Heads.
  1. 7 Kailash Satyarthi has survived numerous attacks on his life during his crusade to end child labour, the most recent being the attack on him and his colleagues while rescuing child slaves from garment sweatshops in Delhi on 17 March 2011.
#8 In 2004 while rescuing children from a local circus mafia, Kailash Satyarthi and his colleagues were brutally attacked. Despite of these attacks and his office being ransacked a number of times his commitment for the cause has been unwavering.
  1. 9 Satyarthi has been honoured by the Former US President Bill Clinton in Washington for featuring in Kerry Kennedy's Book ‘Speak Truth to Power', where his life and work featured among the top 50 human rights defenders in the world.
  1. 10 Wikipedia states that Satyarthi has been the subject of a number of documentaries, television series, talk shows, advocacy and awareness films.

Personal life[edit]

Satyarthi lives in New Delhi, India. His family includes his wife, daughter, son and a daughter in-law along with colleagues and a large number of children that he and his organization have rescued.[citation needed]

Awards and honours[edit]

Satyarthi has been the subject of a number of documentaries, television series, talk shows, advocacy and awareness films.[19]Satyarthi has been awarded the following national and international honours:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/malala-kailash-satyarthi-win-nobel-peace-prize/article6488625.ece
  2. Jump up to:a b P.J. George. "Malala, Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel Peace Prize"The Hindu.
  3. Jump up^ "Who is Kailash Satyarthi? - Hindustan Times". Retrieved 2014-10-10.
  4. Jump up^ (French) « Le prix Nobel de la paix attribué à Malala Yousafzai et Kailash Satyarthi », Ijsberg Magazine, 10 octobre 2014
  5. Jump up^ "Malala Yousafzai en Kailash Satyarthi krijgen Nobelprijs voor de Vrede". nrc.nl. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. Jump up^ "Angaben auf der Seite des Menschenrechtspreises der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung"Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
  7. Jump up^ "The New Heroes . Meet the New Heroes . Kailash Satyarthi - PBS". Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  8. Jump up^ "knowchildlabor.org".
  9. Jump up^ "Trust Women - Kailash Satyarthi".
  10. Jump up^ David Crouch (10 October 2014). "Malala and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel Peace prize"FT.com. Financial Times, London. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  11. Jump up^ "RugMark USA - Entrepreneurs in Depth - Enterprising Ideas"PBS-NOW. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  12. Jump up^ "Principal Voices: Kailash Satyarthi"CNN. 2007-06-28. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  13. Jump up^ Satyarthi, Kailash (26 Sep 2012). "Child labour perpetuates illiteracy, poverty and corruption"Deccan Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  14. Jump up^ "Talk by human rights defender Kailash Satyarthi". oxotower.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  15. Jump up^ "Fund the Future: An action plan for funding the Global Partnership for Education" (pdf). April 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  16. Jump up^ "Why India's Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize: All you need to know"Firstpost.
  17. Jump up^ ""Kailash Satyarthi - Facts""Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  18. Jump up^ in.yahoo.com india article dated 10 October 2014
  19. Jump up^ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan produced film nominated for New York Film Festival".
  20. Jump up^ "Social Activist Kailash Satyarthi to get 2009 Defender of Democracy Award in U.S". 20 October 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  21. Jump up^ "Kailash Satyarthi". globalmarch.org. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  22. Jump up^ "Kailash Satyarthi - Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights - Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights".
  23. Jump up^ "Heroes Acting To End Modern-Day Slavery"U.S. Department of State.
  24. Jump up^ "Kailash Satyarthi - Architect of Peace".
  25. Jump up^ "Medal Recipients - Wallenberg Legacy, University of Michigan".
  26. Jump up^ "Human Rights Award of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung".
  27. Jump up^ "Our Board".
  28. Jump up^ "Robert F Kennedy Center Laureates".
  29. Jump up^ Ben Klein. "Trumpeter Awards winners"National Consumers League.
  30. Jump up^ "Nobel Peace Prize 2014: Pakistani Malala Yousafzay, Indian Kailash Satyarthi Honored For Fighting For Access To Education"Omaha Sun Times.
  31. Jump up^ "Aachener Friedenspreis 1994: Kailash Satyarthi (Indien), SACCS (Südasien) und Emmaus-Gemeinschaft (Köln) - Aachener Friedenspreis".
  32. Jump up^ "Ashoka".

External links[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailash_Satyarthi