Kailash Satyarthi (born on January 11, 1954) is a human rights activist from India who has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labor since 1980 when he gave up a lucrative career
as an Electrical Engineer for initiating crusade against Child
Servitude. As a grassroots activist, he has led the rescue of over
78,500 child slaves and developed a successful model for their education
and rehabilitation. As a worldwide campaigner, he has been the
architect of the single largest civil society network for the most
exploited children, the Global March Against Child Labor,which is a worldwide coalition of NGOs, Teachers' Union and Trade Unions.
As an analytical thinker, he made the issue of child labor a human rights issue, not a welfare matter or a charitable cause.
He has established that child labor is responsible for the perpetuation
of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population explosion and many
other social evils. He has also played an important role in linking the
fight against child labor with the efforts for achieving 'Education for All'.
Mr. Satyarthi 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. As one of the rare
civil society leaders he has addressed the United Nations General
Assembly, International Labour Conference, UN Human Rights Commission,
UNESCO, etc and has been invited to several Parliamentary Hearings and
Committees in USA, Germany and UK in the recent past.
As an advocate for quality and meaning
ful education, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi has addressed some of the biggest
worldwide congregations of Workers and Teachers Congresses, Christian
Assembly, Students Conferences, etc. as a keynote speaker on the issue
of child labour and education.
He is on the Board and Committee of
several International Organizations. Amongst all the prominent ones
being in the Center for Victims of Torture (USA), International Labor
Rights Fund (USA), etc. Mr. Satyarthi is an executive Board Member of
International Cocoa Foundation with the Headquarters in Geneva
representing the global civil society.
He 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. Earlier in 2004 while
rescuing children from the clutches of a local circus mafia and the
owner of Great Roman Circus, Mr. Satyarthi and his colleagues were
brutally attacked. Despite of these attacks and his office being
ransacked by anti social elements a number of times in the past his
commitment to stand tall for the cause of child slaves has been
unwavering.
He 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 including Nobel Laureates
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wessel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, etc.
‘Speak Truth to Power', where his life and work featured among the top
50 human rights defenders in the world including Nobel Laureates
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wessel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, etc.
He has edited magazines like ‘Sangarsh
Jari Rahega', ‘Kranti Dharmi', and ‘ Asian Workers Solidarity Link'.
Besides, authored several articles and booklets on issues of social
concern and human rights.
He has set up three
rehabilitation-cum-educational centres for freed bonded children that
resulted in the transformation of victims of child servitude into
leaders and liberators.
His life and work has been explicitly
covered in hundreds of programmes on all the prominent television and
radio channels including Wall Street Journal, BBC, CNN, ABC, NHK, Japan
Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian T.V., ARD, Austrian News, Lok Sabha
TV etc. and profoundly featured in several magazines like The Time,
Life, Reader's Digest, Far Eastern Economist, Washington Post, New York
Times, Times London, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Independent, The Times
of India, etc.
In addition, to the Global March Against Child Labor, other organizations he has founded and/or led include Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the Global Campaign for Education, and the Rugmark Foundation now known as Goodweave. He is the Chair of another world body International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE)
in Washington, D.C. ICCLE is one of the foremost policy institution to
bring authentic and abiding southern grassroots perspective in the US
policy domain.
"The Global March Against Child Labour
is a movement to mobilise worldwide efforts to protect and promote the
rights of all children, especially the right to receive a free,
meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from
performing any work that is likely to be harmful to the child's
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."
Global March Against Child Labour is a
movement born out of hope and the need felt by thousands of people
across the globe - the desire to set children free from servitude.
The Global March movement originated
under the aegis of Mr. Kailash Satyarthi with a worldwide march when
thousands of people marched together to jointly put forth the message
against child labour. The march, which started on January 17, 1998,
touched every corner of the globe, built immense awareness and led to
high level of participation from the masses. This march finally
culminated at the ILO Conference in Geneva. The voice of the marchers
was heard and reflected in the draft of the ILO Convention against the
worst forms of child labour. The following year, the Convention was
unanimously adopted at the ILO Conference in Geneva. Today, with 172
countries having ratified the convention so far, it has become the
fastest ratified convention in the history of ILO. A large role in this
was played by the Global March through our member partners.
With ILO conventions 138 and 182 as
well as the UN Convention on Rights of the Child forming the base of our
movement, the Global March also perceives education, and the Right to
free and compulsory education of good quality for all children, as non
negotiable. Therefore the Global March also considers the EFA goals
under the Dakar Framework an equally important international instrument
and pushes for governments to achieve the goal of education for all.
Working on numbers is one thing, and
direct efforts to end child labour have always been a part of the Global
March partner programmes. The Global March seeks to eliminate child
labour by questioning, attacking and changing the very systems that
compel children to work at the global, regional and national levels.
What is key therefore, in the fight to end child labour, is the need to
advocate for policy changes. The Global March works on a three pronged
strategy, or what we call a triangular paradigm. The three key processes
affecting the future of the world, in particular our children, are the
elimination of child labour, Education For All and poverty alleviation.
Bringing together policy and action for a unified response to child
labour, illiteracy and poverty is a priority for the Global March.
The dedicated partners of the Global
March movement form an effective network around the world. Acting as
vigilant observers and lobbying with governments in their region, they
form the backbone of the movement. The Global March International
Secretariat is located in New Delhi, India.
Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) founded by
Mr. Kailash Satyarthi is the ray of hope in millions of hearts, the
first dream in their eyes, and the first smile on their faces. It is the
sky and wings together for innumerable children, excluded from human
identity and dignity, with a desire to fly in freedom. It is the tears
of joy of a mother who finds her rescued child back in her lap after
years of helplessness and hopelessness. It is a battle to open the doors
of opportunities, a fire for freedom and education in the hearts and
souls of thousands of youth committed to wipe out the scourge of slavery
and ignorance from the face of mankind.
Rugmark (brainchild of Mr. Kailash
Satyarthi) (now known as Goodweave) is an international consortium of
independent bodies from a dozen carpet exporting and importing
countries, which take part in a voluntary social labeling initiative to
ensure that rugs have not been produced with child labor. This
initiative gives positive alternatives to responsible businesses,
protecting them from any possible boycott and sanctions and gives an
ethical choice to consumers worldwide. He is pursuing the industries and
other stakeholders to adopt a similar system for knitwear, sporting
goods and the other international common products.
The GoodWeave label is the best
assurance that no child labor was used in the making of your rug. In
order to earn the GoodWeave label, rug exporters and importers must be
licensed under the GoodWeave certification program and sign a legally
binding contract to:
Adhere to the no-child-labor standard
and not employ any person under age 14 2.Allow unannounced random
inspections by local inspectors 3.Endeavor to pay fair wages to adult
workers 4.Pay a licensing fee that helps support GoodWeave’s monitoring,
inspections and education programs To ensure compliance, independent
GoodWeave inspectors make unannounced inspections of each loom. If
inspectors find children working, they offer them the opportunity to go
to school instead, and the producers lose their status with GoodWeave.
To protect against counterfeit labeling, each label is numbered so its
origin can be traced to the loom on which the rug was produced.
GoodWeave also sets contractual
standards for companies that import certified rugs. Importers agree to
source only from GoodWeave certified exporters in India, Nepal and any
other country in which GoodWeave rugs are available. In the United
States and other rug-importing countries, only licensed importers are
legally permitted to sell carpets carrying the GoodWeave label.
Importers and exporters also help
support GoodWeave and its commitment to provide rehabilitation and
schooling for all rescued children. Exporters pay 0.25 percent of the
export value of each rug, and importers pay a licensing fee of 1.75
percent of the shipment value. Licensing fees go toward monitoring,
inspections and educational programs that are part of the GoodWeave
program.
GoodWeave's certification standards are
set by GoodWeave International, an associate member of the International
Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance (ISEAL),
which leads the world in setting norms and good practices for
certification. GoodWeave's national offices in producer countries
implement and enforce the standards.
Soon, the GoodWeave label will mean even
more. In order to further the mission to end child labor by addressing
the root causes of the problem, GoodWeave's certification standard will
include other environmental and social criteria, guided by ISEAL’s Codes
of Good Practice. Licensees will be required to demonstrate that their
employees are working under safe conditions for a reasonable wage, among
other requirements. GoodWeave certified rugs will become greener, as
licensees work to identify negative impacts of production as well as
ways to mitigate them. Each producer will work with GoodWeave to develop
a plan for improving working conditions and environmental impacts over
time.
The International Center on Child Labor
and Education (ICCLE) is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to
mobilizing worldwide efforts to advance the rights of all children,
especially to receive a free and meaningful education and to be free
from economic exploitation and any work that is hazardous, interferes
with a child's education, or is harmful to a child's health or physical,
mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The Center serves as
the international advocacy office of the Global March Against Child
Labor, a movement representing some 2,000 organizations in 140 countries
intended to highlight child slavery and hazardous child labor. The
Center also serves as a clearinghouse – for the dissemination and
sharing of information and knowledge on global child labor issues. ICCLE
has built up a great deal of goodwill and respect by being a key player
in the establishment of the Global Task Force on Child Labor and
Education with UNESCO, the World Bank, ILO, UNICEF, and the Global
March. Mr. Kailash Satyarthi is the founder of ICCLE and is on the
Board.
ACCOLADES
The life and work of Kailash Satyarthi
have been the subject of a number of documentaries, television series,
talk shows, advocacy and awareness films, Magazines and news items of
all leading print and electronic media worldwide. Satyarthi's
contribution has been recognized through several prestigious
international awards. These include:
- Defenders of Democracy Award (2009-USA)
- Alfonso Comin International Award (2008-Spain)
- Medal of the Italian Senate (2007-Italy)
- Heroes Acting to End Modern Day Slavey by US State Department (2007-USA)
- Freedom Award (2006-USA)
- In October 2002, Satyarthi was
awarded the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan in
recognition of his courageous humanitarian work against the exploitation
of child labor.
- Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Award (1999-Germany)
- La Hospitalet Award (1999-Spain)
- De Gouden Wimpel Award (1998-Netherlands)
- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (1995-USA)
- The Trumpeter Award (1995-USA)
- The Aachener International Peace Award (1994-Germany)
Satyarthi lives in New Delhi, India. His
family includes children, his wife, a son, daughter-in-law, a daughter,
colleagues and friends.
Nacida en Míngora, Jaiber Pastunjuá, Pakistán. Su padre es Ziauddin Yousafzai y tiene dos hermanos. Habla pastún e inglés, y es conocida por su activismo a favor de los derechos civiles, especialmente de los derechos de las mujeres en el valle del río Swat, donde el régimen talibán ha prohibido la asistencia a la escuela de las niñas. A la edad de 13 años, Yousafzai alcanzó notoriedad al escribir un blog para la BBC bajo el pseudónimo Gul Makai, explicando su vida bajo el régimen del Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) y sus intentos de recuperar el control del valle, luego de que la
ocupación militar les obligara a salir a las zonas rurales. Los talibanes obligaron el cierre de las escuelas privadas y se prohibió la educación de las niñas entre 2003 y 2009.4 5En el 2009 el documental Pérdida de Clases, La muerte de la educación de la mujer (dirigido por Adam Ellick e Irfan Asharaf, del New York Times), muestra a Malala y a su padre, Ziauddin Yousafzai, y cómo la educación de las mujeres es difícil o imposible en esas áreas.6
El 9 de octubre de 2012 en Mingora, fue víctima de un atentado por un miliciano del TTP, grupo terrorista vinculado a los Talibanes, el cual, después de abordar el vehículo que servía como autobús escolar, le disparó en repetidas ocasiones con una pistola impactándole en el cráneo y cuello, por lo cual debió ser intervenida quirúrgicamente. El portavoz del TTP, Ehsanullah Ehsan, afirmó que intentarán matarla de nuevo.7
Dos estudiantes también fueron heridas junto a Malala mientras se dirigían a su casa en el autobús escolar. Ella fue trasladada en helicóptero a un hospital militar. En los alrededores del colegio donde estudian las jóvenes atacadas cientos de personas salieron a la calle a protestar por el hecho. Los medios pakistaníes y a nivel mundial le han dado amplia cobertura.8 10 de noviembre de 2012, el Ministro del Interior de Pakistán Rehman Malik dijo que el pistolero que le disparó a Yousafzai había sido identificado.
El atentado suscitó inmediatamente la condena internacional y Malala Yusafzai recibió el apoyo de Asif Ali Zardari, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Susan Rice,9 Desmond Tutu, Ban Ki-moon,10 Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Welch Bush, Madonna,11 Selena Gomez,12 entre otros.
El 10 de octubre del 2014 es condecorada con el Premio Nobel de la Paz simultáneamente con el activista por los derechos de los niños hindú Kailash Satyarthi, Malala es así la ganadora más joven de este premio.1
- Premio Nobel. «Malala Yousafzai» (en inglés). Consultado el 9 de octubre de 2014.
- Premio Nobel. «Malala Yousafzai». Consultado el 9 de octubre de 2014.
- «Malala, la premio Nobel más joven de la historia». Consultado el 10 de octubre de 2014.
- BBC News (19 de enero de 2009). «Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl» (en inglés).
- BBC News. «Pakistani girl, 13, praised for blog under Taliban» (en inglés).
- NYT (9 de octubre de 2012). «Perdida de Clases: La muerte de la educación de la mujer» (en inglés). Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- Clarín (11 de octubre de 2012). «Los talibanes prometen un nuevo ataque a la niña de 14 años». Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- El Tiempo (10 de octubre de 2012). «Talibanes le dispararon a una niña pakistaní que lucha por los derechos». Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- La Voz de Galicia (10 de octubre de 2012). «Operada con éxito la niña defensora de derechos humanos tiroteada en Pakistán». Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- UN (11 de octubre de 2012). «International Day of the Girl Child» (en inglés). Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- hollywoodreporter (octubre de 2012). «Madonna Dedicates L.A. Performance to Child Activist Shot in Pakistan» (en inglés). Consultado el 11 de octubre de 2012.
- «Selena Gomez’s Idol Is Malala Yousufzai, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee» (en inglés). Hollywood Life (10 de octubre de 2013).
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